The students in Bill Vogel's exceptional education class at Holiday Hill Elementary School on the Southside are learning about Thomas Edison. One student who has volunteered to read aloud begins to struggle with a few words. Vogel gently helps move him along by beginning to read aloud with him.
Vogel's energy and excitement encourages the other students to join in the discussion. Several raise their hands and begin asking questions.
"Is his picture on any of our money?" asked one student. Another asks, "Did he have good parents?"
Vogel guides his students through the lesson, finding something positive about the contributions made by each of them. When the bell rings, each student waves goodbye and verbally acknowledges they will see Vogel later. The environment in the classroom feels warm and inviting.
To most observers, Vogel is doing what many good teachers do in classrooms across the country every day. And while his method of teaching may not seem so unusual, Vogel's presence in the classroom is unusual.
A few years ago, no one could have told the former corporate senior vice president and partner in a successful insurance firm that his future involved teaching exceptional education classes in a public elementary school.
For nearly 30 years his days involved making high-powered decisions that resulted in big salaries and hefty bonuses, but by 2004 Vogel's life had changed drastically.
His wife, Pauline, had just survived her fourth brain surgery, and the chance that she might not have a lot of time to spend with him and his two small children, Nicholas and Max, became a stark reality.
"Before the events with my wife caused me to refocus my life, everything was about me, money, power and position," Vogel said.
"Sometimes you have to get hit with a two-by-four to realize what is really important. I suddenly understood the need to spend time with my soulmate and our two boys who were then 8 and 10."
It was then that Vogel made the decision to move from the boardroom to the classroom.
He's a big supporter of the Educators of Change program, which in a very short time trains successful people to become K-12 teachers in Duval County Public Schools. The program looks for "passionate applicants who really want to make a difference in the lives of local children," organizers say.
For Vogel, getting to where he is now was not easy. "I am now into my third year of teaching and I just completed all of my coursework for certification," he said. "It has not been easy. That is why I support alternative certification programs. I am delighted to see the education system change and become streamlined.
"There are people in our community who would make wonderful teachers. We need to let the public know that there are now fast-track programs designed for accomplished, successful people who want to make a career change that will give them a chance to make a difference."
Vogel said he simply loves his new career and it gives him what he wanted most - time with his family.
"Through this process I learned that money is not what life is all about. Time is the greatest gift you can give those you love."
"He is a wonderful, wonderful man who always has a smile on his face," said Faye Bishop, who works in the main office at the elementary school.
Louvenia Stokes, who works as a teacher's aide in Vogel's classroom, agrees his attitude has changed his students' lives.
"He encourages, he guides and challenges students to rise to the occasion," she said.
Students also have glowing remarks for Vogel. "I will always remember him," Lorenzo Brown wrote in a letter about Vogel. "He will always be the most achieving and positive-thinking teacher in my life."
"He has always helped me, but he also does so much more," said Kody Parsons.
"He is a good teacher."
While Vogel's teaching salary will never match the kind of money he made in the corporate world, he said he has finally realized his dream.
"I won't be driving a new Lexus to our beach house this summer, but last summer I spent six weeks camping with my family in New England," Vogel said.
"I feel like I am making a difference in the lives of my students and my family. I don't have the money I had before, but I feel like a very rich man."
For more about Educators of Change, visit
www.educatorsofchange.org.
