How It Started...

My mom, Barbara Colton was an Elementary School Teacher. She taught for a number of years before she started having children (I am the first of three). Since it was the 80's, when my youngest sibling (Jason) was old enough to take care of himself after school (let himself into the house, lock the door behind him, find snacks, find the remote), my mom decided to go back to teaching. We would hear daily teaching stories at the dinner table and never once did I think...'That's what I want to do!'

The high school I attended, The Wheatley School in Old Westbury, NY, had a special program for social sciences and English. It was called SWS (School Within A School) and gave students the opportunity to choose their learning path AND potentially teach other students. There was a process to teach a 'module' (what the classes were called) and all approvals came from a group of advisor teachers and students. The program was innovative (for the 1980's) and gave me an opportunity to figure out what I really loved.

I taught two courses in SWS. One was about the portrail of serial killers in media and another was about graphic novels and what they show us about society. I enjoyed leading a group discussion, but again, never thought...'That's what I want to do!'

I wanted to be a filmmaker. I wanted to tell stories. I wanted to mezmerize a group of film lovers in a dark theater. After searching for film schools and realizing that I should have applied myself more in High School, I decided to take a year (ended up being two) to figure out what I enjoyed.

I attended Nassau Community College. I enjoyed English courses (because they were 'easy' for me) and really disliked history courses (memorization of dates is not a strong suit. What I loved...WHPC, the radio station on campus. It was the place where I could play the music I wanted, be creative, find my voice, make friends and...get in a little bit of trouble. Walking through that weird little basement door...I had no idea how much my life would change.

Two years at Nassau Community College and I was bit by the 'radio bug'. I interened at WPLJ in NYC and then eventually made my way to Albany, NY for the final two years of my B.A. degree at University At Albany (SUNY Albany for short). I majored in Communications with a minor in English. After two years, I had more radio experience, a second college degree (A.A. from NCC) and no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up.

With no direction and a younger long-term girlfriend in the area, I did what anyone else would do...enroll in Graduate School! Yes, terrible idea, but it ultimately lead me to my first 'real' full-time job.

I got a job as a College Rep for Sony Music. 10 hours a week. $100...and all the free CD's and vinyl you could carry! It was hard work (that 10 hours a week, looked closer to 25-40 hours a week), but I loved it. It was all about the music (my other love along with film) and it didn't really feel like work.

After carrying a schedule of two Grad courses, a college business job, a job at a record store, 'my first Sony' (as a local band would call it) job...something had to give. I ultimately dropped out of the M.A. program I was in and was offered two jobs simultaneously...Promotions Director or a local Albany Modern Rock station and a Field Marketing Manager job with Sony Music...in Rhode Island.

I packed up my life and moved to Rhode Island. I made the decision that was more difficult, but smarter. Go somewhere where you don't know anyone, but work for Sony Music and make $25k a year plus expenses (it was 1996). Or stay where you are comfortable, with your girlfriend and work for a friend making a $18k a year. It wasn't all about the money, but it was about the money, the opportunity and taking the more challenging path.

I worked for Sony Music for eight and a half years (including the year and a half in college). I loved it and had even gotten promoted to a Regional Alternative Marketing Manager (my dream job), but then the internet (Napster) got in the way of the music industry and myself and 999 of my closest friends were laid off over the course of two days. It was an awful experience and it took me nine months of looking before desperation took me to take a job that I never wanted (working at a bank).

The bank, a non-profit...then a job opportunity to get back into marketing, working for a restaurant group. There was marriage, then two boys (and a dog). The next decade flew by. Before I knew it, the hair was getting thinner in places, the extra weight wasn't coming off easily and I was chasing after two boys as they got older and bigger.

Jackson, my oldest, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when he was 6 1/2, on the second day of First Grade. We were shocked and dynamics of the family changed instantly. We would let the boys do all the things they had always done; sports, drama, school, etc. We just needed to monitor it more. My wife, Melissa, took on the bulk of the daily diabetes maintenance, I in turn took on coaching of sports for both boys. I coached Jackson for obvious reasons, but coached Aidan too as I didn't want him to feel left out.

As my job satisfaction marketing in the dining sector decreased, my love of coaching increased. I had applied for a number of marketing positions where I seemingly always ended up as the #2 choice. Two hundred resumes to rounds of six to eight to two finalists. SIX times in less than two years I was told that I was great...but not great enough.

I was dissatisfied in my job and I perseverated about it making myself and everyone around me miserable. At the end of a soccer season one year, a mom came up to me and said, 'Are you coming back next season?' I knew the answer was probably no as we were moving a few towns away, but I answered, 'Maybe. Why?' She went on to explain that her son had come home and cried after every game last season. This season, with me as coach, he was happy either way (win or lose). I asked her why she thinks that is and she replied, 'You let them know that it is ok to lose. You celebrate the small victories and make them all feel like they are important.'

Watching my children grow and learn, I knew that I liked kids better than adults. I thought, maybe I'm just doing the wrong job...maybe I should become a teacher... I looked into the process, enrolled in classes (while still working full-time) and 'put my foot in the water' to see if college (twenty-four years after I last stepped into a classroom) is right for me.

Three years later, I had graduated with my M.A.T. (Master of Arts in Teaching) degree, a 4.0 GPA and a wish to 'make a difference'.