ABSTRACT
My journey to the academic sphere of life probably began at the age of eight, and although I didn’t know it then, it marked the beginning of my interest in becoming an educator and a researcher. I remember the day now as a spiritual experience. It was an unusually hot and dry early August day, so, to seek refuge from the blistering noonday heat, I hiked several miles to a grove of cottonwood trees that grew along the bank of a small, shallow, slow-moving creek. Once there, I sat and nestled myself beneath my favourite old tree and began whittling and carving faces in a piece of pine wood. My grandfather taught me to carve, so I was careful to remember all of the little tricks he thoughtfully and patiently introduced to one of his many grandsons.
