The honor, and the subsequent news interviews, have given Young an opportunity to reflect on her 25 years spent exclusively as a kindergarten teacher. At the heart of it all, she has always loved her teachers and loved learning. I didn't love school. I loved all my teachers. They were all marvelous.
Teachers are so special.
I was recently talking to some people at a soccer game. They were surprised because I can name all my elementary, junior high and high school teachers. I can name them because they all meant that much. She flirted with the idea of becoming an actress or medical examiner, but on her first day at Marshall University, she enrolled in teachers' college, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1973 and earning a master's in early childhood education two years later. She began teaching kindergarten, the job she had always wanted.