autobiography


Family

Born in Fort Bragg (Fayetteville), North Carolina, I was the second of what would be three children from the union of my parents, Phillip Wood and Janice Greear. My parents grew up in Wyandot County, Ohio at separate high schools. They did not meet, however, until they were in college. My mother received a nursing degree from Capitol University in Columbus, Ohio and my father was working at Wyandot Memorial Hospital when they met.

My parents have since parted ways, but they did not stop building a family! My father is now retired from the United States Army Reserves and has an associates degree in Biomedical Engineering. He is married to his lovely wife Lisa and lives in Virginia. They have blessed me with two stepbrothers, Jacob and Adam, as well as two (half)brothers, Ethan and Matthew. My stepmom has become an entrepreneur and opened a scrapbooking business with her three sisters called 4 Scrappy Sisters. Check out their site...it is awesome!

My mother returned to Army life in 1991. It was a difficult choice for her to make, but she knew that it would be the best for all of us...and she was right! She was stationed at Fort Stewart, Georgia in 1991 as a Major in the Army Nurse Corps. She then was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and accepted to attend college to earn her Master's degree. She then graduated from the Medical College of Georgia and was then stationed at Fort Gordon, Georgia. Next, and presently, she is stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia. Most recently she guided Martin Army Community Hospital through another successful JCAHO inspection! Set to retire next October, my family is excited to spend more time with her, and we remain in awe and pride of her service to our country.

She is remarried to Sol Greear, a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the U.S. Army. He has completed the Troops to Teachers program to become a Social Studies teacher. Also, he is an active leader of the Royal Ranger program through his church. He brought to our family three children: Sol (married with three children) who proudly serves our country as a member of the U.S. Army, Hunter (a Junior at Columbus State University), and Nancy (a Freshman at Valdosta State University).

Allow me if I may to brag on my sister and brother. My sister, Erin, is only 18 months older than me and my younger brother, Joshua, is two years younger than me. Being the middle child and so close in age to each of my siblings did cause some conflict, but age and distance has brought us much closer.

My sister attended Brigham Young University for three years upon completing her mission in Italy. She now lives in Orem Utah with her husband Chaz and is a wonderful mother to my two nephews, Joshua (4 years) and Zachary(3 years), and my niece, Alexandra (1 year). She and her husband (a pharmacist) are entrepreneurs. They have developed a healing creme called Essential Sensations (this creme is known to calm/relieve hot flashes). Also, they are opening their own pharmacy in January!! Congratulations!!!!

My brother has been busy working for the Cracker Barrel corporation since high school. He has just finished training to be a manager and will be an assistant manager of the Opelika, Alabama store at the young age of 26. We are all praying for you over there in A**urn Country. Prodigious!!!! You are amazing!!!!


School

Most of my formative years were spent in Ohio. However, upon our move to Fort Stewart, GA in 1991, I entered Liberty County High School as an eighth grader. I was blessed to finish my high school education there as well. I graduated with a college preparatory diploma in 1996 with honors, a member of National Honor Society, and with absolutely no idea what to expect in college!

I then went on to study at Mercer University in Macon, GA. In true fashion, I started out as a pre-med/Biology major. Why? I hated Biology in high school! This choice I cannot explain, but it ended up being the correct one.

As I progressed in college, I did find that I appreciated the science of Biology and especially enjoyed the Environmental Science classes (and not just because my future husband was in there with me). At the end of my sophomore year (after I struggled in General Biology) I decided to drop the "Pre-Med" major and decide to go with "Pre-Physical Therapy". So I spent over 250 hours volunteering at the Medical Center of Central Georgia (MCCG) and various clinics in Augusta, Georgia in pursuit of this goal.

Upon graduating from Mercer University in 2000 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology, I was accepted into the Master of Physical Therapy program at the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) in Augusta. I soon found out, halfway through the first semester, that my heart was elsewhere and I began to pursue and plan for a career in education. Therefore, I left MCG, moved back home and began researching avenues to certification as a science teacher.

This is where the story gets good...I put my information up on the TeachGeorgia website and actually received a call from Eagle's Landing High School (see experience below). They hired me with a provisional teaching certificate and I entered the Teacher Alternative Preparation Program as a member of its first cohort. I completed the program in April of 2002.

experience

If you count teaching a room of stuffed animals using a ping-pong table as a chalkboard and creating a library in my bedroom complete with check-out cards, than I began teaching when I was in elementary school. Seriously, I did that!!

My first experience with libriarianship was in middle school at Upper Sandusky Middle School in Upper Sandusky, Ohio. (NOTE: this is the same school and library that my father attended! How awesome is that?!?) Instead of sitting in study hall every day, I was allowed to volunteer in the school library. I helped organize the card catalog...yes, an actual card catalog (makes me feel old), shelve books, check out books, and "other duties as needed". I loved it!

After that, aside from attending school I didn't think about teaching until after I sent off my graduate school applications my senior year of college. While waiting for an acceptance (or declination) I went to a job fair and was offered an interview. As you read in my "School" section above, I decided to go in another direction.

In February of 2001 was my "trial by fire" in the education field. I was hired to reduce the class sizes of the science department at Eagle's Landing High School in McDonough, GA. Of course, the teachers hand picked the students that I was to teach. I don't want to say much about those months except that it proves that ANYONE can achieve the impossible as I am still teaching today.

Not only am I still teaching, but I am still at Eagle's Landing High School. I have taught Physical Science, and am currently teaching Environmental Science, Biology, and Science, Technology & Society. I am the Y-Club advisor and have worked as an SIEP teacher for students struggling with Physical Science.

In addition, I teach physical science online as a part of the Henry County Online Academy. Since the program began in the summer of 2006, I have taught Physical Science. Currently, I am redesigning the course with hopes to continue teaching in the future.

personal

Upon entering the wonderful institution of Mercer University in 1996, I caught a glimpse of my future on the very first night at campus...my husband! Of course I didn't really notice him until around December, but we have been inseparable ever since. We were married on May 26, 2001 and live in Stockbridge, GA. My husband works at Vistawall, a Bluescope Steel Company, in Newnan, Georgia.

Our family has grown during the past five (almost six) years of marriage. The family pet, appropriately named "Mercer", joined our family in December of 2001. His name has now become "Mercy" by our son, Sean, who was born on July 6, 2003. This fall, we adopted two stray cats, Oreo and Mittens, who are a permanent fixture in our household (and believe me, we thought it was temporary).

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