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Youthful and adventurous, David and Dawn Clubb are
bound for distant shores in the fulfillment of
lifelong dreams.
The winds of destiny seem to have been blowing
upon high school teacher and Presbyterian minister
Dawn and David Clubb long before they knew the other
existed, their paths eventually intertwining in
friendship that blossomed into a romance that would
carry them to lands previously visited only in their
dreams.
Dawn grew up in Germantown where she remembers
working in the family garden during |
Dawn and David Clubb gather with their children
Madelaine (left), her best friend Jenny Lyn Caterina
(daughter of John and Nancy Caterina) and Iain in
front of the First Presbyterian Church in
Huntingdon, Tennessee, where David has served as
pastor since June 1, 1998 while Dawn has taught
English at McKenzie High School for the past three
years. The family leaves for England on August 11. |
summers when vacations
for the family of three daughters and one son - among whom
Dawn was the oldest - meant trips to California to visit
their grandfather, or, every other year, to Arkansas. The
long summer drives to California, she says, seemed to go
on for days without end.
David, five years older than the girl he would meet many
years past childhood and the third of four boys in his
family, grew up "romping through the mountains" in the
Ozarks of Southeast Missouri, where creeks and forests
provided ample forage for adventure, while caring for farm
animals kept him grounded in his rural roots.
Dawn knew from the time she was in the third grade that
she wanted to be a teacher like her grandmother, who
taught school for 30 years. "I would play school all
summer long," she says, "and I wasn't a good student until
I got in the fourth grade."
It was a teacher who, in that grade, opened the door to
new adventures for Dawn. "She was a wonderful teacher,"
Dawn says, "She sparked lots of interest I didn't know
before."
Dawn discovered the excitement of reading, in her early
years delving into Nancy Drew mysteries, and later
enjoying the writings of Jane Austin (author of Pride and
Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility) as well as the Bronte
sisters - Charlotte, Emily and Anne - who provided the
literary world with Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and
various other works of poetry and prose.
"I was one who snuck lights in bed so I could reading
everything," says Dawn, whose great delight after moving
to South Haven, Mississippi, during her junior high years
was being able to use the high school library.
"I read lots and lots of classics," she shares, citing
To
Kill a Mockingbird as one of the most influential books
she read, first for enjoyment in the seventh grade and
again, for class, in the ninth grade.
"I just read voraciously; I read everything I could get my
hands on," she continues, "I just lost myself in that
world; when I read I'm just transported."
It is particularly hard for Dawn when she encounters
students who don't read, because, she says, "I realize
they've never lost themselves in a book." It's too hard,
she explains, for students to lose themselves in a story
when they are preoccupied with "word attack".
She takes pleasure that her daughter, Madelaine, who
recently celebrated her eighth birthday, has followed in
her footsteps as an avid reader, eagerly devouring Junie
B. Jones stories by Barbara Park and "any little mystery"
she can get her hands on.
While in high school, Dawn became a member of an honor
society and was very active in her church youth group.
Meanwhile, David had made his way to Nashville where he
worked and attended Tennessee State University part time,
majoring in history. Always interested in other languages
and cultures, he cultivated friendships with people from
all over the world. He immersed himself in the Asian
community, with good friends from Taiwan, Japan, and
Singapore.
After six years of his part time educational pursuits,
David decided it was time to attend school full time, live
on campus and finish his degree. He transferred to Delta
State University in Cleveland Mississippi (120 miles south
of Memphis) for the last two years of his undergraduate
studies, where the warmer winds of fate had also brought
Dawn, who was beginning her junior year as well, having
transferred from Northwest Mississippi Community College
in Senatobia.
Dawn was drawn to the university, known as Delta State
Teachers College when it was established in 1924, because
of its fine reputation in teacher education.
The two had a class together and were doing a Bible study
together, when, Dawn relates, "We were really good friends
and then decided we were more than friends."
The couple graduated on May 12, 1991 - he with a major in
audiology and speech therapy, a second major in history
and a minor in English, and she with a major in English
education. Two weeks later, on May 25, Dawn and David
cemented their friendship in the bonds of marriage.
| Not
content with rote learning, she tells her students,
"I want your brain to hurt when you leave here." |
David's spiritual journey began while he was living in
Nashville. "I walked into a church and looked at it," he
grins, describing his original method of seeking a place
to worship. "It was so big! So I went to Trinity
(Presbyterian Church) and stayed."
Comfortable with his choice, in time David decided to join
the ministry. He entered Erskine Theological Seminary in
Due West, South Carolina while Dawn taught English and
computers to high school students at nearby Ware Shoals.
Despite her lifelong dream of becoming a teacher, it was
some time before Dawn was satisfied with her performance.
"I've always liked teaching," she explains, "I think it
takes about five years to find your niche, your place.
It's a bit of a struggle when you’re trying to find out
who you are as a teacher."
As a new teacher, Dawn was frustrated in her attempts to
"tell" students what she wanted them to learn.
"There is a big difference between telling them what it is
you want them to know and letting them discover what they
need to know; such a big difference," she says, searching
for the right words to explain the important concept.
"There's a difference in memorizing facts and really
understanding.
"When I first started teaching I would tell them what they
needed to know - 'this piece of literature says this',"
she continues, "Experience taught me how to ask questions,
do a lot less telling and a lot more showing; challenging
them to find what is there."
The kind of active learning Dawn requires in her classroom
is stimulating not only to her students but also to
herself as an individual. "Once I learned to stop telling
them and started asking questions - leading questions -
teaching became the most exciting thing I've ever done in
my life... I tell my students, 'I want your brain to hurt
when you leave here; I want you to think.' Being able to
do that will make a difference in being able to make it in
college."
Having discovered the secret to unlocking the full
potential of her gift, which involves "really loving the
kids and what you are doing," Dawn says, "now I could not
distinguish between myself as a person and as a teacher;
it's all in one."
A good part of Dawn's evolution as a teacher took place in
North Carolina, where David pastored the Linden Associate
Reformed Presbyterian Church in Gastonia and she pioneered
the English as a second language program and helped
develop the curriculum in the "total English immersion"
project.
Dawn worked in seven different high schools per year with
students from Laos, Jordan, India, China, Lebanon, and
Japan in the same classroom.
"That was a lot of when I came into my own as a teacher,"
she says, contrasting the skill levels of students who had
been in the United States for years who had "a pretty good
command of the English language" while others were "just
off the boat."
"Some of them were extremely, extremely bright," she says,
excited at the initiative of students who asked for
lessons above and beyond the constraints of the
curriculum.
"It was a very, very good experience," says Dawn, whose
service to the families was extended to visiting them in
their homes, helping them make important purchases,
assisting in the completion of insurance forms and the
like.
Five years ago, when Dawn was seven and a half months
pregnant with the couple's second child, the family moved
to Huntingdon the first week of June 1998, when David
assumed leadership over the First Presbyterian Church.
Complications in new son Iain's health during his first
months of life pre-empted Dawn's career during the
family's first year in Carroll County. (He has since
rebounded into an adorable, healthy, soon-to-be
five-year-old with a mischievous side that keeps his
mother busy.)
The following year, Dawn taught in the Henry County School
System before accepting a position at McKenzie High School
beginning in the fall of 2000.
"It has been wonderful; I love McKenzie," she gushes, "Mr.
(Terry) Howell is the best principal I ever worked for and
in North Carolina I worked for seven high schools a year.
McKenzie is an extremely well run school system; there is
a lot to be thankful for in the community."
Last year, MHS Librarian Dianne Anderson joined the
adventurous duo in accompanying 16 students on an
educational journey to Europe where they spent seven days
in London and three in Paris.
For the Clubbs, it was the culmination - and the beginning
- of a lifelong dream. "We had always wanted to go, and we
had a wonderful time and a delightful time with the kids,"
Dawn says stridently. "I wanted the students to know the
world is bigger than their backyard; I wanted them to
understand that and I wanted them to see it."
Once home, the two fished among the waters of chance to
see what opportunities were available for full time
employment in the land they had quickly loved.
"We just had this little wild whim that we would see what
happened," Dawn shares. At first, their efforts seemed to
be in vain, with few responses to inquiries that included
Dawn's resume' - or curriculum vitae, a more detailed
document than a typical stateside resume' - with a cover
letter.
The couple understood that Americans seeking placement in
the British market were considered only after British
citizens and members of the European Union and the
Commonwealth gained first consideration.
Dawn was intrigued by an ad she discovered at the Times
Education Supplement Website seeking a committed Christian
for a position with the Holy Trinity Church of England
School. She submitted her documents, along with her hopes
and dreams, and waited for a response.
In time, she learned the school had contacted Mr. Howell
for a reference. "Evidently he sent a very nice one," she
says, but two weeks passed with no further communication.
"I just made it a matter of prayer," says Dawn, reporting
that two hours later she received a call from David
telling her an email had come through with a request for
an interview.
Dawn laughs as she describes the 4:30 a.m. telephone
conference with the head teacher (principal) and head of
the English Department that she attended in bed, dressed
in her pajamas. The waiting continued, however, as
interviews with other prospective employees continued. Two
weeks later, after Easter break, she received the phone
call with a formal offer of employment.
"I took it pending being able to get work permit," she
says. Within a week the school had secured the permit,
which, Dawn says, "is astounding."
"From there it just all progressed rather rapidly, we're
selling off everything we own and are just about ready to
move."
Far from nervous about the move, the Clubbs acknowledge,
"We're both very adventurous people, anyway, and very
adaptable - open minded - and we enjoy seeing the world
through others' eyes."
"The worst thing that will happen if we don't like it is
I'll beg Mr. Howell for my job back!" Dawn laughs.
With Madelaine and Iain already enrolled in Saint
Margaret's School, which "feeds into" Holy Trinity, the
family is almost ready for their grand adventure which
begins August 11.
But Dawn, consummate teacher that she is, reports in a
sweet voice reserved for the students she apparently
loves, "We're coming back in April on Easter break; I have
to see all my little babies before they graduate and go
off to other places in the world."
Places they are ready to explore thanks to teachers like
Dawn Clubb whose greatest pleasure is witnessing the pain
of growing minds blossoming into the future of America -
and the world. |
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