With Gina Pearson's background, the likelihood of her ending up in prison was high. In and out of foster homes her entire life, Gina was always seen as a problem child.
She was kicked out of more than a few of those homes. In fact, she says she was kicked out of 30 of them. Gina reminds me of Taylor, who was given back after being adopted due to his bad behavior.
"I would just always act out or something, and then I would either get kicked out of the home, or I would just run away or something like that," Gina says.
Since first grade and throughout high school, Gina was a "handful," to put it lightly.
"She had her own voice, wanted to be heard,"says her former ninth grade teacher, Cherylyn Straubmuller. "She was rough at first. She was very rough at first. She's in the classroom and the next thing I know, I get hit upside the head with a golf ball. … She threw a golf ball in my direction and hit me in the head."
Any other teacher might have taken the many reasons Gina gave them to expel her. But Cherylyn did something different.
"She sent me an email and she asked me to babysit the kids," Gina says. "I think she just saw something that I didn't even see in myself."
That's when everything changed. With a little faith and a little responsibility, Gina turned things around. Today she is graduating college from Rutgers University and plans on getting her master's degree.
But Cherylyn is modest, so she doesn't want all of the credit. "She made her own way. She realized what brains she had and she finally used it. That's the best part about it."
See the amazing bond between a "problem" student and a compassionate teacher below.
Please SHARE if you had a teacher who was a little bit more special than the others!
