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Derek Norwood likes
to say that he bumped into his future wife. Literally.
As a high school student driving home from Southeast High School
one rainy afternoon, Norwood failed to see the brake lights on
her Volvo in time to avoid a rear-end collision.
Now, the pair, who are engaged to marry next May, are both
students at Dalton State and plan to pursue careers in teaching.
“When I came here I started out in general education, considered
physical education, and even thought about being a physical
therapist,” says the 21-year-old. But I really love history. I
plan to major in secondary education and teach middle school or
high school history one day.”
Norwood’s fiancé, Faith Brewster, expects to graduate in May
with a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education (ECE).
Norwood may enter the ECE program and later take the GACE Middle
School exam that would allow him to teach middle school. But
he’s hoping that Dalton State will be approved to offer a
history major with a secondary education option in the meanwhile
so that he can complete his major at Dalton State.
“I’d definitely like to stay here if the history major is
approved. I like the campus, the teachers, and the people who go
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Norwood admits that one
of the reasons his major has changed frequently is because he
has liked every class he’s taken thus far.
“In almost every class I’ve taken, it seems as if I could see
myself working in that field. My teachers have been great.”
One of the plusses to his education here, Norwood says, is that
he’s developed a broadened understanding of how society works.
“Being in classes with these professors has allowed me to step
outside of my self and look at situations from a different
perspective. In high school, I had a really strict viewpoint
about lots of things. It’s easier for me now than it was then to
see the other side of an argument.”
Of all his courses, he most enjoys history, an interest that he
believes goes hand-in-hand with his longtime hobby of
scrap-booking basketball and baseball team newspaper clippings.
“I’ve always followed Duke basketball and Braves baseball games.
I like to look back on remember what happened in them. I guess
that goes along with being a history major.”
He especially likes to follow coaches who inspire players in
ways both on and off the field.
“I like coaches who aren’t just all about winning. I think
sports is also about building character. My favorite coaches are
the ones that provide good role models for people to grow into.”
His love of sports comes naturally as he was a standout baseball
player in high school and played other sports – football and
basketball – along the way. He participates in intramural
softball and basketball on campus during the academic year and
exercises regularly in the College’s new Fitness Center.
“I’m a real outdoors type person,” Norwood says. “I like to go
hiking and camping, anything that involves being outside.”
Once Norwood becomes a teacher, he says he may consider coaching
as well, but that “teaching comes first.”
“Some people decide to go into teaching so they can go into
coaching. I want to teach first, but if it works out sometime in
the future, I may coach as well.”
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