Lidia Hicks Math Teacher, LaVilla School of the Arts Florida Community College, Class of 2006 Teach First Coast

The Third Time’s a Charm

Lidia Hicks
Math Teacher, LaVilla School of the Arts
Florida Community College, Class of 2006
Teach First Coast

Lidia Hicks has made a fresh start more than once in her life. Raised by her grandparents in Romania, she left her native country after converting to Protestant Christianity. Romania’s national religion is Orthodox Christianity, and not only did her family reject her as a result of her conversion, but her husband divorced her as well.

Alone in a society that looks down on divorced women and her religious choices, Lidia chose to make a new start for herself and her young son and set off for Madrid. After discovering that it would take three years for her Romanian degree in engineering to be recognized, Lidia changed career paths. She studied social mediation and did social work with other immigrants, which gave her a chance to teach — something she had always been interested in.

After seven years in Madrid, life changed once more. She had made many online friends through her church, including several who lived in the United States. “Andrew was one of them,” Lidia says fondly. “He became the best friend ever.” After talking every day on the phone for weeks, Andrew flew to Madrid and proposed to her in an ancient Spanish castle. In 2004 they were married, and Lidia was moving once again.

Settled in Florida and unable to find a job in her engineering specialization, Lidia took the opportunity to return to teaching. With a temporary certificate, she was hired to teach math at LaVilla School of the Arts. But she would need to fulfill additional education requirements to be fully certified, and she resigned herself to two more years of college work.

Andrew was also looking to start new career and brought Lidia along one day to Florida Community College as he met with an advisor. When the advisor learned that Lidia had just enrolled in a two-year teaching program at another school, he suggested Teach First Coast, an alternative certification program for professionals who want to teach. In the intensive summer program, Lidia could be fully certified in two months instead of two years. “I couldn’t believe it,” she says. “I was there for my husband, and I came home with awesome news for me!”

Lidia has nothing but praise for the Teach First Coast program. She remembers a particularly intense month of studying where she was ready to quit the program. “My advisor, Victoria Bennett, and the program coordinator, Dr. Kathleen Foley, took the time to support and encourage me,” Lidia says. “I don’t have words to thank them for their encouragement and trust.”

Lidia graduated in August 2006 and has received her professional teacher’s certificate. She’s currently working on her master’s degree in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language and will graduate this August. Across three careers, three countries and thousands of miles, Lidia may finally be settling down, but it isn’t an earthbound feeling. She says, “I don’t have any other requirement to fulfill — now I feel free.”