Civil Engineer - Thirty-eight yrs at PA DOT designing and inspecting bridges, District Bridge Engineer for sixteen yrs. This was an amazing time – helping rebuild a roadway and bridge system in Northwest PA that was poor with over 10% of the bridges being posted or closed and potholes that made car travel treacherous. We developed many new innovations as an intrapreneurs, like doing research projects, building bridges ourselves and developing a Bridge Education Center.  We shepherded a new bridge beam idea thru research, standards for construction and actual use in a bridge. I learned more people skills in management, project delivery and building teams and relationships.  I managed a team of 22 engineers and technical staff and designed 20 to 30 bridges each year.  It is amazing to think of all the gas tax you paid to help my team build bridges – over 30 million each year!

Homeschooling - My wife homeschooled our three daughters through high school, I was the principle and janitor.  We both learned so much from homeschool fairs, co-ops, state conventions and a speech/debate club. 

Foundations - The foundation of a bridge is one of the most important parts and we bury it to build the rest of the bridge!  In education the same is true – the birth to age 6 is the most important part of a child’s life in terms of physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual growth. This the foundation is hidden but revealed in many ways as the child grows. My research and experience show that the Montessori system is the best foundation for a child's growth because it is based on way God created children to learn and grow.  The Montessori system builds the whole child – physical, intellectual, spiritual and social.  The traditional system concentrates on the intellect leaving out the other three parts and leaves out a creator God and Savior in Jesus.  We are seeing the collapse of this education system step by step because it has the wrong foundation.