From an early age, Idalia Diaz seemed destined for a law career. She loved the art of debate. She was intrigued by rules and structures. She was driven. She earned a law degree from Harvard University and became a successful attorney.

So why is Diaz back in school 16 years later, working toward a degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences at the UW?

“Life got in the way,” she says with a shrug.

Idalia Diaz

It certainly did. First Diaz discovered that her second child has Asperger’s syndrome, a form of higher-functioning autism. She began dedicating many hours each day to working with him. Then the unthinkable happened: she suffered a stroke. Her ability to communicate and her memory were significantly affected.

Diaz’s ordeal has led her down a new path, toward a career in speech pathology. Given her own recent struggles with language, she believes she can help others facing similar challenges. That belief brought her back to school.

As an older UW student preparing for a second career, Diaz is in good company. A surprising number of students come to the University with similar goals. They’ve switched from computer to drama, from medicine to English, from firefighting to teaching. Their reasons vary, but at some point each asked the question, “What do I want to do with the rest of my life?”

Here, A&S alumni share their reasons for pursuing careers in education and offer their perspective on where K-12 education should be headed.

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Picking Up the Pieces and Moving On

Diaz thought she knew how her life would unfold. Then came her son’s diagnosis with Asperger’s syndrome and her debilitating stroke, which changed her life and led to new career possibilities.

From Firehouse to Schoolhouse

For 25 years, Byron Braden worked as a firefighter in Seattle. When injuries led him to retire in 1998, he returned to the UW to finish college. While completing his degree in history, he became interested in teaching as a career.

Making Music a Priority

As a high school student who played oboe and English horn, Beth Antonopulos considered a career in music. But she also excelled in math and science. For a while, science won out--she spent four years as an engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Center. But she eventually decided to return to school to give her full attention to music.

Listening to the “Actor Voice” That Never Stopped Whispering

As an undergraduate, Ron Simons' two loves were drama and computer science. He went on to a career in technology--including jobs at Hewlett-Packard, IntelliCorp, and Microsoft--but noticed that “this little actor voice in my head had not stopped talking to me over the years....” He decided to listen to that voice and entered the UW School of Drama's Professional Actor Training Program.

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From Elliott Bay to Bristol Bay
After reading about science for years as a book buyer at Seattle's Elliott Bay Bookstore, Jeff Jorgensen decided to return to school to pursue a career in science. Now nearly finished with his B.S. in biology, he is considering graduate school.

A Doctor Prescribes a New Career--for Herself
To balance the stress of her work as a physician, Janis Caldwell ('96) began taking UW extension and undergraduate literature courses. She eventually decided to leave medicine and enter the UW's graduate program in English. She now is a professor of English at Wake Forest University.

[Autumn 2001 - Table of Contents]