Today we’d like to introduce you to Ronniece White.
Ronniece, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Well let’s start from the beginning. When I graduated high school in 2006, my dad gave me two options: get a job and pay some bills or go to college. I decided on the latter and attended Palm Beach State College. I graduated with my A.A. and transferred to Florida Atlantic University. I entered F.A.U. as an Accounting major and was struggling to balance my accounts. I knew this wasn’t the career for me but decided to push through since I was working part time at a bank. On several occasions, Dr. Anthony Lockhart would come to my line to make his deposit for his church and try to convince me to change careers. “We need more young Black female teachers,” he would say. I started to think back on my high school experience and could only recall one Black female teacher I had. Mrs. Tabitha Times-Aubrey. I knew at that moment I needed to be an example for young Black and Brown girls. I wanted them to SEE me, just like I saw Mrs. Times. When the end of the semester came, my grades were not a true representation of the effort and time I was committing. I realized that I was struggling in this major because I was trying to pursue a career that wasn’t my calling from God. I changed my major and couldn’t wait to tell Dr. Lockhart. He came the following Sunday, and I shared with him my recent change; he was ecstatic and promised to give me a job when I graduated. He did! Dr. Lockhart was the principal at Atlantic High School in Delray Beach and hired me as an English educator. He made sure I worked with a great writing team to perfect my craft. After being nominated several years in a row by the State of Florida for having consecutively high-test scores, he suggested I start my own tutoring business. With the help of several businesswomen, Renee Grant and Shelia Tyson, I did! I am blessed to have had help from such remarkable humans and because of them I want to help people in my community. I want to show my Black students the importance of having a Black teacher.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road wasn’t always smooth. When I first launched my tutoring business the pandemic hit. Parents were being laid off and couldn’t afford tutoring. Schools were closing and being delayed which also impacted my success. My support system wouldn’t let me quit though. They helped me use my social media platforms to push my tutorials. Parents quickly realized the importance of tutorials when grades were pushed out. Students were not attending classes and their assignments were accumulating. That’s when the calls from Facebook started rolling in!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a certified ELA 6-12 educator and tutor. I specialize in reading and writing. My bachelor’s is in English Education and master’s is in Curriculum and Instruction with an English specialization. My students would say I’m most known for my sneaker collection and being the cool teacher: my Instagram name is teaching. with. Kicks. I would say my flexibility. I managed to obtain my master’s while teaching full time, tutoring, and being a mother and wife. I am most proud of my master’s degree. I am the first generation master’s graduate. My daughter cried when I walked across that stage in 2019. What sets me apart from other teachers is my relatability to our student body. I talk like them, look like them, and sometimes act like them. I spent most of my years in education learning from them. Like the few educators in this world, I actually went to school to teach. I teach because I love it.
How do you think about happiness?
A lot of things make me happy. My family for one. My ten year old daughter tells the most amazing stories. She gets her story telling from me of course. My six year old son’s smile is the most beautiful I have ever seen. No bias over here. My husband’s existence in this world brings me an abundance amount of joy too. But what makes me really happy is simply conversing with my students. They have such amazing personalities and I could laugh with them all day.
Pricing:
- $30 for 1 hour of tutoring
- Professional Development for schools: $500 for 10 teachers
Contact Info:
- Email: thewriterxllc@gmail.com
- Website: thewriterxllc.com
- Instagram: teach.with.kicks
- Facebook: Ronniece White
- Twitter: RonnieceWhite
Image Credits
My Teacher, My Hero Awards
