Today we’d like to introduce you to Beverly Armento
Hi Beverly, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
As a kid growing up in a dysfunctional and violent home, I had to seek security and encouragement outside my home: SCHOOL!!! and TEACHERS!!! Good for me that I was a curious child who loved being in school and adored my teachers. My teachers, in turn, saw something in me, and gave me lots of encouragement and nurturing, from my earliest years through college. My teachers made a huge difference in my life. I went to college ONLY because teachers helped me see I COULD! I could be successful. I could apply for and receive state-sponsored grants and scholarships to ease the financial burden. My counselor helped me with the application. Indeed, trusted adult mentors stood by my side throughout my growing up years. It is because I had so much high-quality mentoring that I became who I’ve been and who I am today.
I’m Professor Emerita from Georgia State University, retired now following a long and rewarding career as an educator. In ACT IV of my life, I’m now an author, speaker, advocate (for children, teachers, schools, social justice). I’m particularly focused on childhood trauma, adults with untreated trauma, the availability of appropriate mental health services, the important role of educators/other trusted mentors in the lives of children, especially the most vulnerable ones, the critical role of public schools, and resilience and hope.
For me, personally, there is no doubt in my mind that I owe a debt to all those teachers who enabled me to be strong, resilient, intelligent, confident, capable. My career has been a “giving back” process as I tried to model my teachers’ gifts to me in the ways I worked with children and adults. I believed every one of my students was capable of reaching for the moon and I acted accordingly.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Sure, the road has been bumpy. But I learned early that I could and had to bounce back from each tumble I took or each beating I endured. Some kids do not bounce back easily, and they don’t fare well surviving traumatic situations. I learned to be resilient BECAUSE of the roughness of my road and because I always had hope (that I would get to school the next day, or I would become a teacher). Those two ingredients: HOPE and RESILIENCE are essential to long-term survival.
Of course, even though I was strong and resilient, I also got to a point where I was fast losing hope. I’d lived through seventeen years of physical and emotional abuse, and I was exhausted, physically and emotionally. I was ready to give up and drive into the river. It was indeed a dark night of the soul. I finally came to my senses and remembered the WHYS of my life: Why I had completed my undergrad degree, why I was teaching, why I was grateful for my life as a teacher, why I wanted to live.
Finally, I found HOPE again. I was able to bounce back and move on.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
As a writer all my life, I’ve now turned from professional writing to writing personal stories. Seeing Eye Girl: A Memoir of Madness, Resilience, and Hope tells the story of my early life and the important role of my teachers. Life’s Turning Points: A Personal Reflection Journal is just that, vignettes from my life and writing prompts for folks who want to pen stories of their own lives. There are two more memoirs on my desk at the moment that are in process.
I enjoy meeting in person or via zoom with Book Clubs and love speaking with groups, educators perhaps, or anyone who is interested in topics close to me: resilience, hope, childhood trauma, the important role of adult mentors, and so on.
Building on the Seeing Eye notion, I encourage educators to be SEEING EYE MENTORS, helping children/students SEE themselves as effective team members, as leaders, as learners, as compassionate humans, as resilient, as hopeful, as dreamers who can create their futures.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I am the luckiest teacher in the world: students from all stages of my career are in my life now as friends/colleagues. That includes several from my first class (fourth graders, 1963-64). What treasures.
My mother had two of the earliest successful corneal transplants in the country (with Dr. Bascom Palmer, Miami), was an artist, and made most of our clothing when she was blind. This human-interest story became national news in the early 1950s, culminating in a This is Your Life program devoted to momma and our family. Was a pretty exciting time.
Because I was separated from my Italian father early in my life, I lost contact with my large Italian extended family. Now, in my maturity, I’m discovering many “lost” cousins! How much fun is that!!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.beverlyarmentoauthor.com
- Instagram: beverlyarmento
- Facebook: Beverly Jeanne Armento
- Twitter: beverlyarmentoauthor
- Youtube:@beverlyarmento8430
