Editorial
Front Page - Friday, June 18, 2010
Former teacher reflects on impact of education
Erica Tuggle
Glen Chambers taught school for 32 years before becoming a Realtor full-time. This multi-million dollar seller says he works with many of his former students and their families, and his heart is warmed to see their success years later.
- Erica Tuggle
Unlike some jobs, teachers cannot hand in a finished product, but instead rely on the peace of mind in knowing they have done the best they can to give all students in their care knowledge for self-improvement.
Glen Chambers says this was his motto during his over 30 years of teaching in Chattanooga. The lives he has touched in the process and his many successful students can verify that Chambers has given his best wherever he was and in whatever he was doing.
Chambers graduated in the second class at Riverside High School, born and raised in the inner city on Oak Street. He continued his education at Kentucky State University, UTC and Middle Tennessee State University. From there, he spent 32 years teaching between James A. Henry School, Normal Park and Tyner Academy.
Chambers says this was a great time in his life, as he was witness to the beginnings of change in the world for the better. He says during that time he helped to get some of the first African American students into Baylor, and saw his students achieving.
“It warms my heart just to see my former students doing well,” he says. “In this world, we have kids that it is never too late to turn your life around and start moving forward in another direction, and I’ve seen a lot of my kids doing that.”
Chambers says he challenges the negative association with the inner city neighborhoods and schools with examples of people he grew up with in the West Side of Chattanooga, such as actor Samuel L. Jackson, and those he taught, like current Volkswagen lawyer Wade Hinton. It comes as no surprise that the seven foot tall Chambers says he played college basketball during the 1960’s with Elmore Smith and Travis Grant, who went on to play professional.
“I’ve been blessed because a lot of my former students are now my friends. There were a lot of good people that I met over the years and that’s how I was able to survive in 32 years of teaching,” he says.
Chamber’s students are also helping him in his current line of work as a Realtor with Chattanooga Real Estate Consultants which he says has a family-like atmosphere and is a pleasant and loving place to work. He began in the business by buying real estate in the 1970’s and decided that for summer employment he would try real estate.
“I thought if I got into real estate and made a couple of sales in the summer that would be adequate to carry me over to the next school term,” he says. “I have been blessed and it has been a blessing to me to do so.”
The blessing that Chambers is talking about is partly his success in the real estate with being a multi-million dollar seller since 1990. It is also a blessing to have such a close rapport with his former students and their families that send him referrals and make up a portion of his clients.
“I just try to do the best job that I can, and I try to look at it as being a ministry because also you find a lot of people who have wanted to buy a house before this but because of things in their past that have happened to them that may have hindered them,” he says. “You find some people who just need some encouragement, some that need direction and some just want to talk.”
No matter what the case is, Chambers says, he prays about each and everything and that God is involved in his daily life and decisions he makes from home to work and back again.
Chambers knows that his job is also made easier by the fact that real estate is an item that everyone is going to want sooner or later.
“It is something everyone wants. You just have to show them ways they can get it,” he says.
When he’s not working to put people in the house of their dreams, Chambers likes to enjoy the simple things like listening to jazz, traveling with his wife Sara, or spending time with his four children and two grandchildren. Chambers says he also loves to work at his church, First Baptist on East 8th Street, where he is a deacon.
This church has a history of famous teachers, too, as it is the same church that both Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Reverend Battle applied for. Reverend Battle, for whom Battle Academy was named and the first black man to be on the school board, was the one to receive the position because he was more seasoned, as Dr. King was fresh out of college.
In telling us this story, Chambers has taught another lesson and gained another admiring student.
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