Fernway Special Education Aide Angell Quarterman was working at a downtown law firm when a friend called and asked if he wanted to work with kids. "I told him 'No way.' I said that I don't have any kids, I don't babysit and I have no idea what to do with a kid," Quarterman recalls.
Still, his friend persisted and wooed him with the promise of summers and holidays off. Quarterman gave it some thought, went to an interview, and a week later, he resigned from the law firm and started his new job at Cleveland Public Schools, where he worked with Emotionally Disturbed (ED) students. "I had no background in working with those kids and I had no clue what I was getting myself into," he admits. But he quickly learned that he'd gotten himself into something that felt less like a job and more like a vocation.
"The kids looked at me as a role model, a father figure and someone they could trust," Quarterman says. "When you're helping kids with behavioral issues, you have to build trust and relationships. I built so many relationships with the kids because they needed someone to talk to. They needed that firm TLC and guidance."
Today, Quarterman still uses his characteristic TLC and guidance to build relationships with Fernway students. But he's also found that he can build their skill sets, especially when it involves his off-the-job passion: cooking.
"I learned to cook when I went to college out of survival," he says. "I watched a lot of the Food Network and that's how I started."
At Fernway, he realized he could marry cooking with the IB curriculum by finding recipes from countries students were studying, make them, and then deliver the food to class. No big surprise that his idea was well-received by the students.
This year, Quarterman started an after-school cooking club for fourth graders on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school. On Tuesdays, the students would explore a country, a native recipe and measure out ingredients. Then Thursday, they would prepare the food.
"I love doing it because the kids come in with so much energy. They can't wait to see what we'll be cooking," he says. "The kids are learning, having fun and learning a life skill. If they learn how to cook now, they'll have this knowledge and they can keep it."
Quarterman, who became the first president of the OAPSE Local 153 last year, feels fortunate to have stumbled into a career that he never imagined for himself. "When I was in college, I thought I wanted to be a lawyer," he says. "But now, if you asked me if I would change something? I'd say 'No. Not at all."