Tina Carpenter

My dad, he's passed away now, but he always told me to never stop learning, and never be afraid to reinvent yourself. You know, sometimes your career path doesn't look perfect. Mine's been kind of like a roller coaster. I was in admin for years, and my goal there was to be like a CFO. But that typically changed when I started to work in financial, an analyst position at UofL, and I worked there very shortly because 70 hours a week just wasn't going to work for me. And being a single mom, what I was looking at was the money, you know, the income. But you have to look for opportunities that fit you the best. It's not being greedy, that's just life. It's important to choose a career that gives you purpose as well, not just a paycheck. My dad taught me that. Financial stability matters, but fulfillment matters too. When you care about the work you do, it becomes easier to stay motivated. So, it's always advocate for yourself, and speak up.

The most important thing I want to tell them is if they want to be a teacher, they see how rewarding it is. I've actually had my daughters go to work with me, and they've seen the impact. It was so good to have them with me, because they understand and seen what I do daily, and they've seen a whole new understanding and worth as a teacher, and all the emotional and empathy that you give to your students and they give back, it's very rewarding. Being kind is a big thing for me. I want them to learn to be kind to others. There's so much bullying going on in schools, and I want them to know that being a teacher, you can really make a difference, and they're very capable of that, because they have good hearts. I also want to let them know they're capable of achieving more than they realize. I want them to grow into more confident women, and chase their goals, and care for others. Caring for others is so important, because there's so less of it anymore, but never stop believing in their own potential, no matter what they want to do.

The biggest challenges would have to be dealing with general ed teachers. There needs to be more support in that area. Sometimes they don't know or have accommodations, or they don't really have that emotional encouragement for these kids. These kids rely so much on emotional support, and balancing their academic with their emotional needs is sometimes very hard for general ed teachers if they don't have the background in special needs special education. A lot of these students struggle with behavior, and general ed teachers kind of lose patience. You have to have complete patience for these kids. They get overwhelmed easily, and I know the teachers are overwhelmed, but you have to remain patient and calm and supportive. I think there needs to be more training with general ed teachers that really don't know. That's the biggest complaint and the challenge I see, is they don't know how to deal with those types of kids. They also don't know how to deal with attention difficulties of the students in the middle of the class. When you're co-teaching, there's not a lot of training on co-teaching, and I wish there was. There's just a lot of communication that's lacking, and it can create so much stress. Behavior issues are very, very prevalent in today's world. I see more and more kids struggling with behavior issues.

In my personal life, I have children, and I have 4 girls. I have a daughter who graduated college and a daughter that has a volleyball scholarship at a college, and she's getting ready to graduate next year. My daughters are my motivation, and the reason I continue working hard, even in difficult times. Their love and support are everything. I went through a really bad divorce, so I had to kind of regrow my life the last 4 years. I returned to school later in life, changed careers, but I still continued to pursue my goals, which taught me the importance of resilience and self-improvement. I believe growth does not stop at a certain age, and I wish women would quit saying, I'm too old. They can't do this, because it's important to keep learning and evolving, and your education is something no one can take away from you. In my divorce, I learned that. When I just got my divorce, he could not take that away from me. And that just challenged me to keep going and finish my education to my doctorate. During challenging seasons, that helped me stay grounded and remind me to keep moving forward. I believe if all women kept that concept in life, it would make such a positive impact on others. That's one reason why I love my job, so I can encourage students, you know, don't give up, you might have a bad home life, you can change that. You can be the one to change that. Your life has purpose beyond even beyond professional success. My daughters are my life outside of school. That's my life. I do have a life outside of school with exercise, gardening and mowing, but my focus has just been my daughters. I want to see them be able to make a difference as well.