My teaching career almost did not happen. I signed a contract to teach mathematics ()at the high school from which I graduated) during Spring Break of my senior year at Longwood, contingent, of course, of my successful graduation in August 1972.

I was scheduled to student teach in Roanoke, Virginia that summer in order to complete my requirements for graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. Unfortunately, a nasty case of mononucleosis interfered with my ability to complete my course work by the end of the spring semester. This required my attendance on campus and the elimination of my stint of student teaching and, very likely, my graduation in August.

I felt duty-bound to inform the school system about this turn of events. I drove home prior to the beginning of the summer session to meet with the Coordinator of Human Resources. To my amazement, he said he believed I was worth waiting for so I should return to campus and determine if there was any way for me to graduate without student teaching. When I inquired how that would be possible (I was a first-generation college student so I was naive as to how things worked), he told me if I had enough college hours in all the right categories, I could graduate. I was so excited I cut my break short and headed back to school to meet with my advisor.

When I returned to college, my advisor told me it would be a horrible mistake for me to graduate and take a teaching job without student teaching because statistics indicated that few people were ever successful when doing so. I just smiled at him and told him I was going to be another one of those few that made it. As it turned out, I had twelve more credit hours than I needed when I completed summer school even though I had to take a correspondence course to complete the hours I needed in one area.

I will forever be indebted to Carrington Cockrell, the Coordinator of Human Resources, who believed in me enough to hold my position considering I took my final exams that summer on August 16, 1972, began new teacher orientation on Monday, August 21, 1972, and have never looked back.