Career Changer: Painter/Contractor Takes First Big Step
Toward Becoming a English Teacher

Brookville, N.Y. – Graduating with a college degree is something that 41-year-old Matthew Ward says he has always wanted to do. But, he acknowledges, work, finances and even life would keep getting in the way. For over 10 years, Ward took classes at various colleges, chipping away, trying to earn a degree but never able to finish.

Then in July of 2001, his daughter Kate was born 10 weeks premature. And everything changed. She spent nearly two months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Stony Brook University Hospital. For Ward, that was the catalyst to get back on track with his education.

“The experience was shocking for me,” he says. “And it was at that point that I knew I needed to start making changes.” He enrolled at Southampton College of Long Island University the following Fall. This Mother’s Day, his longtime dream will come to fruition as he will graduate from Long Island University with a B.A. in English and a minor in Education.

Balancing time between a young family and a full-time college course load would be enough for most students. For Ward, it’s even more complicated. For 17 years, he’s owned his own painting/contracting company, Matthew Owen Ward Fine Painting, based in Amagansett where he also lives.

Although his business has been successful, Ward says it’s time for a career change. As he took English classes at school, his advisors suggested that he try education. After a few courses he was hooked. Now a candidate for New York State certification in Secondary Education (grades 7-12), he completed his student teaching at East Hampton Middle School and East Hampton High School.

“I look at my nieces and nephews so differently now,” he says. “Many of them are in secondary school and I can better understand what it is like for them to go through the education process.”

Eager to start teaching as soon as possible, Ward has sent resumes to a few districts in the hopes of getting a job in the Fall. “I feel like I have something good to share, something to offer these kids,” he says. “I’m excited to move forward.”

Ward will be one of more than 2,300 students who will graduate on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 14, 2006 at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University’s 48th commencement exercises. This year, C.W. Post’s commencement ceremonies also include graduates from Southampton College and the Southampton Graduate Campus of Long Island University.

Posted: May 5, 2006