God has blessed me much more than I deserve. My story begins in rural East Alabama. I am the second son of a lower middle class family. My brother is 6 years older than I am. My Mom and Dad held very high Christian values and expectations. We were in church every time the doors of the church were open. To this day I have never heard my parents use profanity. A lot of my free time in those days was spent hunting in the Talladega National Forest. It was not uncommon for me to spend summer nights running trot-lines, jug fishing, or gigging for frogs on the Tallapoosa River. I felt very at peace in the nature.
My Dad worked long, hard days on the factory floors of Atlantic Steel in Tallapoosa, Georgia. My Mother worked as an order-checker at a Business Form Factory in Heflin. Neither of my parents made a lot of money but both my parents were very good at managing the money that they made. We were probably poor, but we were very close and it didn’t seem to matter most of the time. When I was in 8th grade, my mother’s factory was moved to Mexico. She only had a high school education, so this forced her into some continuing education classes in the secretarial field for a few months while she drew unemployment. She later landed a secretarial position in Tallapoosa at a rubber factory. I will never forget my Mother telling me over and over and over again, “Michael you must get your education. No one can take that from you.” A few years later while I was still in high school my Dad’s factory also shut down. He took advantage of the continuing education classes that are offered through unemployment. He went on to work as a security guard watching millions of dollars worth of welding equipment on oil pipelines. This job took him away from home for weeks at a time, leaving just me and mom at home. By this time my brother had graduated college and was working in South Alabama as a physical therapist. My Dad also preached to me the importance of an education.
While in high school I never really had “that teacher” who believed in me or encouraged me to go to college. The closest person to that teacher was the Ag teacher who thought I should go to Abraham Baldwin in South Georgia and major in Forestry. At my high school you were divided into one of three groups; low, medium, or high. I was in the medium group. Looking back it is clear that the expectations were not as high for the medium group as they were for the high group. I remember one day I threw a monkey wrench into the system. I went to the school counselor and asked to take two College Prep classes. I wanted to take Anatomy and Psychology. It was unheard of for someone in the medium group to request such classes. I still remember the counselor trying to talk me out of taking those classes. She kept talking about how hard they were and the amount of work required. The more she talked, the angrier I became. I took those classes and I remember thinking “I’m going to show you what I’m made of. You are going to see I can do it, if I want really want to.” That’s exactly what I did….. She never questioned me again, when I asked to take a class. By telling me I couldn’t do it, she motivated me to a point of near obsession. That part of me hasn’t changed much.
In the spring of my senior year of high school I knew I had to apply for college, but I didn’t really have a clear understanding of what I wanted to major in or how I was going to use my life. I felt an immense amount of sibling rivalry pressure to be as successful as my Physical Therapist brother. (Looking back this pressure was self-inflicted.)
One day I remember watching a story on TV about John Smoltz who went 2-11 the first half of the season pitching for the Braves. Sometime around the All Star break a sports psychologist by the name of Dr. Jack Llewellyn started working with Smoltz and the second half of the season he finished 12-2 and they went on to the World Series. He showed him videos of his best games and best pitches. He taught him how to use self-talk to calm down after a hit or homerun. I thought to myself, “I want to do that. That would be awesome!” That fall I went to Jacksonville State University and double majored in Psychology and Political Science. (I wanted to keep my options open for law school as well upon graduation. However, I think that was to please my parents and compete with my brother more than having a strong desire to actually go to law school.)
I found that the classes dealing with the psychology of human potential and environmental psychology fascinated me the most.
I worked my way through college as a student worker in the housing maintenance department. I worked under an electrician, carpenter, and a plumber. The plumber and I shared the common interest of hunting and fishing and we became friends. Each morning I worked we would pick up his work orders and set out to complete them. I started noticing that while he drove he wanted me to read the work orders to him. Eventually, I figured out that he couldn’t read. When the time was right I asked him if he wanted me to help him to read better. He said yes, so I went to the library and checked out “Hooked on Phonics.” We would work in the basement of one of the dorms for about 30 minutes a day. I began to see some progress although he was not reading “War and Peace.” At this point I knew my interest in psychology and teaching could be connected. When I completed my B.A in Psychology and Political Science I began my Masters degree in Education while teaching high school students with severe emotional behavior disorders. I went on to teach high school and middle school special education students at Heard County High School. I also taught Government and AP Psychology. Over the years I have been motivated by those who didn’t think I could be teacher, assistant principal, or principal. However, I want to motivate others in a different way.
I enjoy using education to mentor and inspire students to do more with their life than others may think are possible. You see I identify with the B/C student who doesn’t have the latest fashion in clothes or shoes. I identify with the kid whose parents are unemployed and he’s hoping the teacher doesn’t ask everyone to participate in sharing their summer vacation experience. I sympathize with the kid who doesn’t want to discuss with the class what everyone got for Christmas. I want to connect in some way to the kid who doesn’t have a father figure in his or her life. Everyone encourages the A student who makes us all feel good about teaching. I want to be the one who inspires the others to dream big and ultimately improve the quality of their life through education. I feel that God has blessed me immensely by putting me in this position. I hope that I honor Him in how I lead and influence others.
Mike Roberts, Principal
