Today we’d like to introduce you to Denice Dixon.
Hi Denice, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Growing up, I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. My aspirations were to one day be a principal. After going to college and getting a dual degree in elementary and special education my plans were to teach right out of college but that did not quite happen. I serve in the US Air Force Reserve and right after college, I was tasked for a deployment. After returning from my deployment, I was able to get a job beginning the next school year. I was so excited to be on the path I have always dreamed of. I taught special education in public school for some years and I loved it. I was good at what I did and it brought me joy to see students performing in their abilities regardless of the disabilities. The need for them to be successful kept me up at night because I was always looking for new ways to make learning fun.
Even in the midst of me pushing to make learning more fun, there were still so many stipulations put around how I could teach. Teacher autonomy is slim in public school understandably, because of the need to educate large numbers of students on a certain time schedule. After transitioning schools, I then began to experience the politics of education and the favoritism between teachers and administration. Again, my goal was to simply teach students and instill in them ways to be successful in life. Dealing with the politics and favoritism took away from that and drained me each and every day that I completed a day of teaching. I was slowly losing my passion for something I know I was called to do. A few years before my last year in public education, I was selected to attend an Orton-Gillingham (OG) training. For those who aren’t familiar, this is specialized training for students with dyslexia. After taking my training back to the classroom, I realized I needed some further training because the program was working but I was not proficient at it. I enrolled myself in the year-long OG training to better myself. I began using my training doing in-home tutoring after school. After many months, my tutoring side hustle was doing well and my clientele was growing…
Then, in January of my last school year, I had an experience that brought tears to my eyes. It was my breaking point because instead of staying up late planning for another successful day with students, I was instead staying up thinking of how I would make it through another day. I knew that at that moment, I would not be able to continue. I went home and told my husband that I needed to quit. After some conversations, my loving husband was supportive of my decision to leaving public education and start my own tutoring business. However, I am not a quitter so I decide to stick the year out and not renew my contract for the following school year. In July of 2018, I opened TREAD Educational Services, LLC. TREAD stands for Teach-Reach-Educate-Achieve-Dream.
TREAD started as just an after-school tutorial program and also provided holiday and summer break camps. The mission and vision of TREAD expanded when I had one of my tutorial parents ask me to homeschool her son. My initial response was no because of the time it would take and I figured I could be using that time to do more tutoring and make more money because I had bills to pay but after more consideration and prayer, I realized that this was probably the way that I could make education what I knew it could be and create an educational environment that I longed for in public education. Through word-of-mouth, I was able to meet more and more parents who were interested in educational choice for their child. They were tired of the cookie-cutter approach to delivering content in the classroom. They were interested in what TREAD had to offer and decided to come along with me on the journey to entrepreneurship and educational success for our scholars.
Now we are still growing and thriving and providing an environment where students can be their authentic self. As of this school year, we are an accredited school with the state of Georgia as a non-traditional educational center.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The path to entrepreneurship has not been the easiest. Of course, with any start-up business there is the financial hurdle of keeping the business running and paying yourself. There is a need to ensure a constant clientele so that the business can stay a float. For me, that was hard because my goal was just to educate students. That leads to my second hurdle which is knowing education but not knowing the business side of things. I was learning to run a business as I was building the business. It put a lot of stress and pressure on me but it was worth it because I was building something that was mine and something I knew would provide success for students for generations to come.
Another big hurdle for me started in 2019, the first year of my homeschool program. I was pregnant with my first child and had a complicated pregnancy and a 2 month early delivery. The doctors were not sure if my baby or I would make it out the operating room but God knew best and brought us both through. So a month into my first school year, I had to be out for an extended period of time. I had nothing prepared for me to be out and I was so nervous about what would happen with the school and my students but I had a supportive group of parents who stepped in to ensure everything continued as I would want it to, the best they could. After returning from maternity leave and getting back into the groove of things, I got a notification that I would have to attend a 6-week military course. This again pulled me away from the school in its first year but again my parents stepped in and did what they could but I was getting more discouraged because the school year was not going as I had envisioned.
To top it all off, the pandemic hit the week I returned from military duty and the school had to shut down just like businesses and schools all across the world. To me, I felt like my new dream of owning and running my own school was falling apart. The school shut-down for five months but with the need for alternative educational choices in the midst of virtual learning, TREAD was able to fit the needs of parents and students in the greater Atlanta area and we have been growing ever since.
My current struggle is that I don’t think parents should have to charge tuition in order to have educational options for their students. Tuition also limits the students that can attend our program, We are in the process of trying to raise funds to establish a scholarship fund that all students can participate in.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am an educator and teacher entrepreneur who teaches students to reach educational heights through educational experiences that keep them on a path to success and ultimately lead them to achieving their dreams.
I specialize in dyslexia and other learning disabilities but my focus is always on the student’s abilities and not their disabilities because if they show me what they know, I find ways to help them learn more.
I am most proud of my scholars. The ones that have come, the ones that here, and the ones that will come. My hard work is not to bring accolades to myself. My efforts are to ensure generational success and to leave an educational deposit in the earth that all children can benefit from.
What sets me apart from others is my heart and my resiliency. There are so many other career paths I could be on right now and I could be making a lot of money but I don’t have a desire to do any of things. My heart is only in making sure children succeed because they are our future everything. My desire is to get students to know what they learn, accept what they learn but challenge it if applicable, develop what they learn, and then give back to those around them by teaching them what they learned.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
It’s hard to name just one but one of my most memorable childhood memories was my first trip to Disney World. It was so much fun! I have been a DisneyWorld fan ever since and we have been back countless times.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.treadeducation.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/treadeducation
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/treadeducation
