Lifelong learner

Education was my life. I loved school and luckily had no trouble with my studies. I also loved art thanks to my wonderful elementary art teacher who provided instruction and encouragement. All through school I took every extra art course I could and college prep courses.  I had no idea which direction to go after graduation but thanks to a math teacher I decided to go on to college to major in art. My life took an unexpected turn after January when just at the start of my second semester my parents were hit head on and my whole family ended up in the hospital. I quit college to come home and take care of my mother who had a broken neck. And there my education could have ended if it wasn't for Ray Geiring. He was a former neighbor and principal of my elementary school who had moved on to teach at Clarion University when he heard I wasn't considering going back to college he wrote me a letter which provided the encouragement and guidance for me to continue to pursue my college degree. 

    I became an elementary teacher and spent my career teaching. My minor in art came in handy as I used many artistic techniques in conjunction with my teaching skills to help children learn. I loved teaching. 

   I have always loved learning. I continued on to get my Master's degree plus forty eight credits beyond. When it was time to retire I worked for the University of Pittsburgh and supervised student teachers for a few years. 

    Since retirement I have continue my learning by taking some online courses to learn better computer skills. Blogging has led me to try out new things that I would have never learned in the past. And blogging led to wanting to be a better photographer. I am currently learning new photoshop techniques. My motto has always been ..keep learning. 

  Today Dr. mardy's Quotes of the Week were all about Lifelong Learning. I would like to share some with you. 

  Michelangelo showed insatiable curiosity until his death at age 88.  When he was in his seventies, he drew a sketch of an old man holding an hourglass -- some say it was Father Time, others say it was an image of himself -- riding in a child's cart.   Just above the drawing, he wrote in Latin: "Ancora Imparo."  The saying has been traditionally translated as "Yet I learn" (and more recently as "I still learn").

One's work may be finished someday but one's education, never."
         Alexandre Dumas (the father)

  "Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death."
         Albert Einstein

  "I am learning all the time.  The tombstone will be my diploma."
         Eartha Kitt

  "The great awareness comes slowly, piece by piece.
   The path of spiritual growth is a path of lifelong learning."
         M. Scott Peck

  "One of the secrets of life is to keep our intellectual curiosity acute."
         William Lyon Phelps

  "The wisest mind has something yet to learn."
         George Santayana