Life is a journey. 

There are numerous points along that journey. Three have been significant in my life.

The first point involved my lamentation — “I am tired of not being me.”

The second involved my pleading — “I want to be me.” 

And the third is where I want to be today, embracing the truth that “I am.”

The points do not have to correlate with our age, but we need teachers — as individuals and, at times, as situations — to help us arrive at point number three.    

For me, even though the journey has been long and arduous, it has not been about my own strength or inner grit. There were family, friends, educators and students along the path to help me get to where I am today.

My mother brought me into this world and guided me throughout my early life. 

When I was in high school, I struggled with inorganic chemistry. My friend Bryan became my tutor and helped me pass my college entrance exam.

One of my undergraduate professors, Dr. Fanuel Tagwira, taught with great passion. When I was in his environmental science class, I envisioned attending graduate school to earn my doctorate. 

During my master’s degree, I took a class in biotechnology taught by Dr. David Ferguson, which helped me decide to pursue doctoral training in plant physiology.  

I enrolled at the University of Kentucky for my doctoral education. After a few exams, I realized my master’s education was not sufficient to succeed in this new field. I became afraid I would not make it. I began to question my ability. 

My first doctoral adviser, Dr. Joe Chappell, suggested I read scientific research papers each day to familiarize myself with concepts in molecular biology, biochemistry and physiology. He also assigned me the responsibility of maintaining plant cell cultures, which helped me learn molecular biology laboratory techniques. After applying Dr. Chappel’s suggestions, I did much better in my classes. 

I ended up transferring from the University of Kentucky to the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Because I was also able to transfer many courses to UNL, I planned to graduate in three-and-a-half years. 

My graduation plan came to a halt in my final year. The graduate committee informed me my previous courses did not satisfy the requirements for calculus and physics. There was no other way but to fulfill the deficiency. The news was devastating and demoralizing!

My doctoral adviser, Dr. Paul Staswick, advised me to take a calculus-based physics course taught by Dr. Greg Snow. 

I performed dismally in Dr. Snow’s class and I became concerned I would not graduate. I decided to talk to Dr. Snow about my situation and he assigned me additional take-home assignments. The extra work helped me pass the class. 

Last year, I started teaching undergraduate level genetics. I felt inadequate and unprepared for the class. My fear surprised me because my academic training prepared me to teach the course. 

Although I was afraid of going into the classroom to teach, my colleagues shared suggestions and their experiences, which built my confidence as I headed into my first day in front of the students.

I was also fearful of the phenomenon known as “stereotype threat” — that as a Black professor, my white students would view me as less intelligent than a white professor. I discussed the situation with my friend Mark and his words of encouragement helped decrease my fears.

After my experience with these early teachers, I thought I had met all the teachers I needed. 

I was wrong. The next teacher I needed was not the one I expected. 

As I was preparing for the class, several graduate and undergraduate students offered to assist me in teaching the class. My teaching assistants (TAs) helped me create online exams and quizzes, coordinate recitation activities and graded exams and homework assignments.  

I also met Faith last spring. Faith stopped by after class to let me know she was expecting. Faith did not think her situation would affect her performance in my class. I appreciated her courage to share and confidence to succeed — but I became concerned about the impact of stress on her health. Moreover, the baby would arrive during the semester. Faith proved me wrong — she did not fall behind on her work and maintained excellent performance throughout the semester. I was thankful she stayed healthy and her baby arrived safely. Faith demonstrated tremendous resilience in coping with her new reality.

The students taught me that to become the teacher I wanted, I must first be the student. This is the lesson I needed to get to the third point in my life — to know that “I am.”

I am a student of life. I am my strengths and weaknesses. I am my passion and purpose. I am learning and moving beyond point number three.

I have learned teachers arrive when we are ready. I hope we all find the strength to learn.