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Serendipitously in the year 2005, God placed an amazing soul in my path. This amazing soul, named Clarissa, very quickly became my friend, my companion, my wife, and my life partner.
As a man who is a perfectly imperfect work in progress, I deemed myself questionable of being deserving of such a wonderful wife.
In the early months of 2007, I received life-changing news. I was to become a father! Here in writing, I am poignantly embarrassed to admit that I did not have the immediate sense of joy we commonly see in the movies. My first thoughts were that I did not have enough money in the bank and that I was an educator who was not earning enough to provide for a family.
Fortunately, my now-deceased father was there to give me good advice. He said that Clarissa is giving me children because she loves me and deems me worthy. He also said that as two established professionals, my wife as a nurse and me as a teacher, the finances will fall into place. He was correct about all.
Being a teacher makes me a better father. Being a father makes me a better teacher. This depth of inexplicable love has taught me more about myself, and my contribution to society, to humanity.
As a veteran teacher for over two decades, I have had the privilege to educate, inspire, encourage, counsel, advise, and assist thousands of students with discovering their unknown talents and propensities. Many of my students surprisingly did not need a reliable family structure to prepare them for productive professional futures. The academic, behavioral, psychological, and emotional deficiencies of my students were, and still are, very striking. I have witnessed repeatedly over the years how non-English speaking immigrant students, outperform mainstream American students in my classroom. Many students developed an apathy for learning. Many students in general are now graduating high school without mastering basic reading, writing, and math skills. This is clearly an unsustainable model for our country and our world. Thus, with a blend of love and fear for them, I asked The Divine Architect for guidance. I prayed for answers as to how I would help my students, beyond teaching them science.
Like magic, God answered my prayers. This is how The Broward Social Network was born in 2015! I taught myself social media skills very quickly. I then made an offer to the local business community and to various elected officials in South Florida. I offered them free social media services in five languages: English, Spanish, French, Creole, and Portuguese, for one month, if they would mentor my students for ONLY one day a month. THIS PLAN TOOK OFF LIKE WILDFIRE! For several years, I have been taking my students out of the classroom, and through field trips, whereby I paid for the bus out of my own pocket, I brought students into 4 professional spaces: law, medicine, journalism, and aviation.
Exposing my students to these various industries, beyond the classroom, with an opportunity to see who and what they could become, has changed many young lives for the better. These amazing professional field trips allowed me to not just educate and mentor these youths, but they also gave me the privilege of serving as a father figure to my students, to their families by extension, and to their communities.
Beyond any of the many credentials I have attained, beyond any of the many awards I have received, beyond any of the life experiences I have had, fatherhood is my absolute greatest achievement, for my biological children and for my students.
I thank you, God, Heavenly Father, for gifting me the most important responsibility of my existence, both professionally and personally, FATHERHOOD! AMEN!
“Ted Victor”
Thierry Teodoro Miguel Florival-Victor
Founder of The
Broward Social Network
The International Fathers’ Association members congratulate TED VICTOR and wish him well in his future endeavors.
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