Her Story
About Jennifer
Jennifer Peterson serves as Education Director at Huntington Learning Center in Fishers, Indiana. She entered the field of special education in 2008 after transitioning from public school teaching to privatized education. Peterson earned her bachelor's degree in special education from Purdue University and her master's of education from Indiana Wesleyan University. She maintains an active special education license and is highly qualified to teach content areas including algebra for grades 5-9 and high school English. In 2017, during one of her most challenging years of teaching, she was awarded the Golden Apple Award. Peterson attributes her professional success to her strong discipline, setting goals that she refuses to fail. She values full transparency in her work, providing clients with both professional opinions and personal perspectives as if advising her own family. Her career path reflects a commitment to helping students achieve the best possible education outcomes.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jennifer
01What do you attribute your success to?
My discipline. I set goals and I don't ever fail them. It's just not an option for me. I say I'm going to do something, I will do it and you will never question it again.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Before you have kids or start your life, get your education out of the way so you can enjoy the rest of your life. From my mom before she passed.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Get your education out of the way so you can enjoy the rest of life. As soon as you graduate from college, just go out and get your master's, because it's gonna reap rewards later on in life. Going back to school while working full time is hard.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Students are ill-equipped to graduate with proper reading levels due to policies like no child left behind. We're progressing students without meeting them where they're at, failing kids who have low reading levels even in high school. Privatized tutoring like at Huntington helps but not everyone can afford it.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Full transparency. I don't sugarcoat anything. I give clients my professional opinion and personal perspective, like what I would do if it was my own daughter, because we personally care about others getting the best education possible.
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