My name is Marty Ashman; I am 57 years old. I live in the house in which I grew up. I have one older brother and two younger brothers, along with a younger sister. When I was young I belonged to the YMCA Indian Guides, a father and son organization, in which we would go on camp-outs, make crafts, and be able to hang out with our friends in the tribes. As I got older and aged out of the Indian Guides, the next step was to join Trailblazers. It was also a father/son organization but one in which the sons were expected to run the meetings, events, or camp-outs with their father's guidance. It was while I was in Trailblazers that I got a taste of teaching, because the older boys would teach the younger boys the things that would earn them badges.
I was in Indian Guides and Trailblazers all through my school years. Once I graduated from high school, I attended Lake Superior State College(now Lake Superior State University) for Electronic Engineering Technology. I attended Lake State for two years until my money ran out and I had to quit. I joined the military (ARMY) for three years in order to save up enough to go back to school. While in the ARMY, I was a military policeman, stationed in Vicenza, Italy. I loved traveling when I had a weekend off, and would go to Austria and Germany whenever I could. Once my tour was up, I came back home.
When I got back home I decided that I would keep electronics as a hobby, and instead felt drawn toward teaching. I used the money I had saved up and entered Eastern Michigan University, because it had a reputation of being the best teaching school in Michigan. If I was going to be a teacher, then I wanted the best! While I was working on my degree as a full time student, I was also working full time as a security guard at a Ford plant, on the midnight shift. It took a lot of hard work, but I was able to get my degree and teaching certificate.
Close to the end of my time at EMU, I found a girl named Lisa whom I fell madly in love with. We were married just before I graduated, and it has been the best 22 years of my life. We were never able to have children of our own, but we were able to spoil our nieces and nephews. At one point we were fostering two of my nephews from the time they were 10 and 13, now they are grown, and we are enjoying being emptynesters.
I was able to get a permanent teaching job at Malow Jr. High School two years out of EMU and have enjoyed my time immensely. I cannot believe that it has been 20 years, the time has just flown by. I guess the saying is true "Time Flies When You Are Having Fun". I truly believe this saying is correct, because I have had the pleasure of teaching children, and watching the light bulb of knowledge get turned on, and it has been life changing, before I knew it 20 years had gone by. I know for a fact that teaching is a calling, because those people who get into it just for the summers off, usually quit within 5 years. I will be very sad when my teaching time is finished, but I have a few years left to help make an impact on the lives of more children.
Thank you for taking the time to get to know me!