I was going through a difficult time in my life. My best friend had passed away after fighting cancer. My husband had experienced two heart attacks, which caused a financial hardship on our family. I decided that I needed to go back to school to prepare myself for employment to ease the financial hardship on my family. I wasn’t emotionally or mentally ready for school. Before taking classes with Dr. Kim I was a complete wreck. I had doubts about my own capabilities because I had not been in school in over twenty-five years. I was just certain that everyone in college was going to be younger, smarter, and more prepared than me. Fear almost made me want to throw in the towel. But then, in walks Dr. Kim, the professor of the class. She was warm, supportive, funny, and sensitive to the wide variety of needs in the classroom. We were an extremely diverse group, in age, nationality, race, and cultural beliefs. In a few weeks she had all of us believing that it didn’t matter where we came from, all that mattered is where we were going, and that we could reach our goals and live our dreams. Dr. Kim is the most motivating person I have ever met. When students received a low score on an assignment, Dr. Metcalfe would tell them that they were not their grade. More importantly, she taught us strategies to identify our strengths and weaknesses, and the steps to turn weaknesses to turn our weaknesses into our strengths. I use these tools and I have taught them to my own teen-agers to support them during difficult struggles. Dr. Kim played a very important role in making me what I am today, and I am highly grateful. I am now a teacher for Riverside City College Early Childhood Center and completed many certificates in Early Childhood Education, as well as my Associate of Arts degree. Today I am working towards earning my Bachelor’s degree. I would like to thank Dr. Kim Metcalfe for being a major source of inspiration in my life and for teaching me the tools to achieve my goals.