What is a honeymoon, but a time to sleep in, enjoy the newness of your relationship status and laze about? Not for Andrea Johnson. She and her new husband, Travis, spent their 2007 honeymoon in Ghana, sharing a tent and working with orphans to improve their education systems. Hardly what most people would call romantic and relaxing.
This trip to Ghana with Travis wasn't Andrea's first encounter with educational service work. After first getting her bachelor's degree at BYU in 2003, Andrea went back to earn her teaching endorsement for special education. During Andrea's first special education teaching job in Springville, she met a couple who were working on a large-scale service project. The founders of Families for Children International, Blaine and Katherine Porter, had a goal to raise money to build a school and an orphanage for the children of Ghana.
"I was the student counsel advisor in Springville at Grant Elementary School and we did fundraising to help this organization," says Andrea of her first experience. She had her special education students write books for the children of Ghana. She helped collect school supplies, too. Andrea told her students she would personally take these books and supplies to the children in Ghana. The word spread. Soon, other schools were getting involved.
"A lot of my friends were teachers and they started doing the writing with their classes. It built and we got several schools involved." By the end of the school year, the supplies and books collected were ready to go, but the price tag to send Andrea and other teachers to Ghana couldn't be covered by Families for Children International. They still had not reached their financial goal to be able to build a school and an orphanage.
"But, I wanted to go anyway. Myself and three other teachers paid our own way and went over to bring the kids the books and the teaching supplies to the children," recalls Andrea. The group brought pe
The children in Ghana thought Andrea and the other traveling teachers were a miracle.
"Oh, they were cheering. Jumping up and down — cheering. A lot of the people had never seen a white person or ever played with a soccer ball. One teacher was crying because she couldn't believe kids in America would think of them."
Andrea's experience in Ghana was a catalyst for her life. She returned to Utah with a newfound appreciation for everything she has. She also returned with a drive to return to Ghana and do more for her "kids," as she calls them. She has since traveled back to Ghana three times, on her own dime, to assist with education and humanitarian work.
"When we first went there, the orphanage was only one room. Since then, they have received money and have been able to build a school," she says. "Our goal was to help them be self-sufficient. We taught them how to square-foot garden, how to make their own soap — we even got them a sewing machine." There is still more work to be done. Andrea's service work as a teacher in Springville didn't end with her next place of employ.
Extra credit
She found a job as the special education teacher at Wasatch Peak Academy, a charter school in North Salt Lake. Wasatch Peak Academy has a mission of service — a quality Andrea had a passion for already. Her efforts went far beyond what most teachers are willing to do for their students. She approached the National Association for Child Development (NACD) for some extra help.
"She knew that what she was doing was not enough. She sought us out because she wanted more — she wanted more for these kids," says Sarah Erling, one of the developmentalists from the NACD who worked with Andrea, her students and their parents.
Andrea wants to see her students grow. "Parents are usually the ones who seek us out," says Sarah of Andrea's dedication. "It's uncommon for a special ed teacher to do more than what the state standards are for kids. She went above and beyond to find another resource."
"She got our entire school into a pilot for a whole year, at no cost, with NACD," says Sandy Shepard, the administrator for Wasatch Peak Academy. The whole school got a chance to work on a computer program called Simply Smarter. This program helps improve auditory and visual sequential processing skills, therefore improving short-term memory and working memory processing.
Pushing for more did not go unnoticed by the school's administration. Sandy nominated Andrea for teacher of the year for the school — which she easily won. "Kids love going to her every day," boasts Sandy.
"I've done this for 36 years. She's just about one of the best special ed teachers I've ever seen," Sandy says. Sandy entered Andrea into the state's charter schoolteacher of the year award. Andrea won that too.
One to grow
Late in August 2008, Andrea received an invitation to a banquet. She didn't know what it was and tucked it in her purse. When she looked at the invitation again, she was confused.
"Did I just win something?" she wondered. She was in the last few weeks of her first pregnancy and school had been out for several months. She didn't even realize that she was in the running for the state title.
The awards banquet was on September 18, the day after Andrea and Kevin brought their baby daughter, Afton, into the world. The school board at Wasatch Peak presented Andrea with a letter from Governor Jon Huntsman after she returned home from the hospital.
As a new mother, Andrea has had to make some adjustments. She still helps with testing at Wasatch Peak Academy as well as suggesting curriculum there, but she no longer works in the classroom. She recently accepted a job that allows her to work from home as a teacher with the Utah Virtual Academy. The online school is a combination of home school and charter school, whose flexible schedule allows her to be with Afton, now 6 months old.
Andrea knows that when Afton gets older, she'll again be able to go back to Ghana.
"I wish I could go back there this year, but can't afford it. Being newly married and having a new baby, cost is an issue," she says. She wants to eventually return and see the orphans attend high school and perhaps adopt one or two of them. "I love all those kids," she beams. "I think of those kids as my children. I have pictures all over the house of them. When my own kids are older, I'd like to live over there for a couple of years to help them."
Maybe in the meantime she'll just relax — but, that's doubtful.
For other ways to help out with Andrea's efforts in Ghana, contact her at facerandrea@yahoo.com.
To donate to Families for Children International, visit their Web site. http://www.familiesforchildreninternational.org/
More information on Wasatch Peak Academy is available at their Web site. http://www.wasatchpeak.org/
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