Catherine Manfra

I'm going to say my closeness, or my spiritual closeness to God. Being raised with this idea of God only gives us as much as we can handle. So, kind of having that spiritual strength, as well as the role models in my life, my grandmother and my mother, were very strong women. My grandmother's still alive, she just turned 96 this past year. Unfortunately, she has dementia, so she has days where she doesn't remember who I am, but there's other days where, when I go to visit her, she does, you know, recognize me. But as a role model in general, my grandmother was one that, from a very young age, she was always trying to teach me things, and she was a, you know, worked until she was in her 70s. She came from Cuba, right after Castro took over, in Cuba, and so they had to start in New Jersey, and you know, she was always telling me about the struggles they went through, so, not to take things for granted. So between her and my grandfather, and then my mother also, seeing her and the struggles, she went through, you know, they've kind of influenced me to work hard and just, be a good person and do the best that I can. And so, I think that's where it comes from. My spiritual background and the strong women role models I had in my life.

I think, not just career advice, but just in general, and it's taken me a while, is to not take things personally. And that's a hard one. It's been a hard one, but yeah, initially, and in my early years of teaching, you know, if a student wasn't doing well, or they weren't performing, I did tend to take it on a personal level, like, am I doing something wrong, or do they just not like me? And, you know, I had a fellow colleague tell me, don't take it personal. There's only so much you can do, and, you know, you have the student, in the end, is gonna do what they are gonna do. So, yeah, don't take things personally, I think was a very important lesson that I've had to continue to learn throughout my career, not just with students, but also with coworkers or administration. A lot of times I have felt that, you know, I've been maybe told things that I was like, oh, like, that wasn't very nice, and I've kind of had to take a step back and tell myself, okay, they might be having a bad day, or something else is going on, and it has nothing to do with me, so I need to not take it personally.

I think I would tell them, in education right now, that you just need to be flexible, and you need to be a lifelong learner. I think in this field, because of everything that's changing with AI, with social media, with all the apps and everything going on, and I see that at my current school, is that instead of shunning or turning away from AI, they are telling us, you know, we need to lean in and learn ourselves, learn more, because it's the future, whether we like it or not, and so we can't be afraid of it. So, you know, letting the future educators understand that you need to be flexible, be a lifelong learner, and don't, if you're going into this profession, it's because you do want to make a difference on the future generations. It's not the type of career that's going to get you rich. But you can, if you live within your means, like myself, I'm lucky enough that I budget myself throughout the year so that I don't have to work in the summer. I get to have my summer off and, you know, kind of recharge and take that time to reflect, before the new year starts again. So, those would be my three takeaways. Be flexible, be willing to be a lifelong learner, and don't go into the profession for the money. Go into it to make a difference on the future generations.

I think right now, at the school where I'm at, I do feel that I do have the potential of moving up. This past year, even though it was my first year there, I did interview for the position. I didn't get it, but I think that's mainly because I am so new, and at Palmer Trinity, what I've seen, and I've heard from other faculty members that have been there for a while, is that they move up their staff, you know, they move up from within, they don't hire from outside, which I love that concept. And so, I interviewed for the academic dean position. I didn't get it, but I know that, afterwards, when they did tell me I didn't get it, they were like, we love your attitude and just everything that you've brought to the table this year, so please, you know, just continue what you're doing, and we know that when other positions come up, you know, it's just right now, it's a timing thing. So, just keep, you know, keep up the good work. So, I feel like, you know, I do have the potential of moving into a leadership role at the school. I don't know how soon that will be, but I know that there are some of the deans and stuff that have been there for almost 30 years now, so they may be getting to that point where they'll be retiring, so that's a potential that I look forward to, maybe moving up in that realm. You know, as far as challenges at this point in time, I don't see that at my current school. I did see that in the public school system, which I think is like, my decision to change to the private sector, I did it in at a good time, because I just see the public school system here in Miami-Dade, they are having a lot of challenges. Enrollment is down, overall morale is down. It's very stressful right now from what I'm seeing.