{"id":7247,"date":"2025-03-06T12:30:19","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T17:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/?p=7247"},"modified":"2025-03-27T09:20:06","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T14:20:06","slug":"good-morning-grace-presents-kids-being-kids-a-music-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/good-morning-grace-presents-kids-being-kids-a-music-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Boardrooms to Classrooms: Corporate Professionals Turn to Teaching"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Media of Ms. Farkas-Furniss and Ms. Zhang provided by Alejandro Izurieta \u201925<\/em>. Media of<\/em> Mr. Klebnikov provided by Brain Reilly.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes someone leave a successful corporate career to become a teacher?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Grace teachers who transitioned from the corporate field, the decision was not about leaving something behind; it was about going into a more meaningful job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The educators, who excelled in the corporate world, brought their 9-to-5 energy to the classroom. Instead of valuing material success, they now appreciate their opportunity to inspire, educate, and connect with their students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I decided to interview three of Grace\u2019s top corporate transitioners to understand how the transition to higher education from large enterprises changed their philosophy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karen Zhang left her software engineering role at Meta, not due to being dissatisfied or burnt out, but because her passion for education burned brighter. Sammantha Farkas-Furniss, a star in an elite banking executive training program, found true fulfillment in helping students unlock their potential rather than generating Excel spreadsheets. After decades of delving into global finance, Michael Klebnikov realized he wanted to leave behind a legacy of teaching about life and learning, not a record of wins and losses in the stock market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These career shifts are a look into our teachers\u2019 hearts and lives but also a testament to the value and purpose teaching can provide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an industry where job hopping is the norm, Ms. Zhang\u2019s career pivot stands out. After securing a coveted software engineering position at Facebook (now Meta), and going from summer internship to full-time, Ms. Zhang made the eyebrow-raising decision to leave her tech career without a backup plan. Always passionate about education,  Ms. Zhang participated in teaching programs during her college years. Her journey came full circle when Lorry Perry, the head of the high school, as well as an old teacher from Ms. Zhang\u2019s high school days, connected Ms. Zhang with a math teaching position. \u201cPeople were really supportive,\u201d Ms. Zhang recalls of her colleagues’ reactions. Ms. Zhang (Algebra 2\/Trigonometry, Programming) is one of Grace\u2019s most beloved teachers, and her story challenges the traditional narratives of success. She represents the age-old tale that sometimes the most fulfilling path is not the most predictable one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you know that everyone\u2019s favorite learning specialist and homework savior used to crush the world of Wall Street while working at HSBC (The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation)? Right after Ms. Farkas-Furniss started her career in finance, she was marked as the high performer we see her as now. She spent years traveling around the country helping businesses as a part of the HSBC executive training program before eventually being relocated to the company\u2019s headquarters in Chicago, where she was promoted to an executive development role. After more than half a decade working in finance,  she realized the job was not providing the personal fulfillment she desired. She felt that \u201c85% of [my] life\u201d was being consumed by working at the bank, leaving \u201c15% for actually living.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite her success in corporate banking, she ultimately decided that it didn\u2019t \u201cfill my life in the way I thought it would.\u201d Ms. Farkas-Furniss originally went to Bank Street School of Education to teach but felt like it was not a career for her at the time. She had not thought about teaching for a while until a simple subway advertisement for the Teachers Fellows Program sparked a lightbulb moment. This time, she looked at teaching in a different light. While the transition from corporate to the classroom was challenging at first, she believes that she found her true calling. Now, Ms. Farkas-Furniss bubbles with enthusiasm: \u201cI am pumped! I love what I do here, and I love helping students and working with their families.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before educating us about authoritarian leaders, world history, and philosophy, Mr. Klebnikov spent more than two decades as a powerhouse in the financial sector, primarily working in commercial and investment banking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Straight out of business school, Mr. Klebnikov joined the then-Chase Manhattan Bank\u2019s international institutional division. After four years of working in this position, Mr. Klebnikov became so interested in international banking that he used his vacation time to work as a consultant with the World Bank. His interest turned into a business that began at a pivotal time in history. With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, it was the first time that Russia had a capital market, and companies were privatized with stocks being publicly traded. After another half-decade, Mr. Klebnikov moved back into corporate finance. Initially working for a small broker-dealer and later transitioning to a bigger German bank, it seemed as though Mr. Klebnikov would be in finance for the rest of his life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was until \u201cone bright day, I picked up the phone and called Teachers College [Columbia University]\u2026 to find out when their programs might be open to get a teaching degree.\u201d Coincidentally, it was the cutoff day to apply. So Mr. Klebnikov applied and got in, and the rest is history. While one might think a career-altering decision like this would not be as easy as it seemed to be for Mr. Klebnikov, it surprisingly was. His decision did not just occur in isolation; it was a collection of conscious and subconscious factors that led up to his phone call to Teachers College. \u201cYou\u2019ll find that in your life some of the biggest decisions you\u2019re going to make develop over time,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes you\u2019re not even conscious of how they develop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Klebnikov\u2019s decision to switch from finance to teaching was driven by three main reasons: disillusionment with the financial sector, becoming a parent, and a growing sense of purpose in education. As he explained: \u201cWhen I was trading securities, it was like monopoly money \u2026 I became sort of disillusioned with the value that was attached in business to money.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He felt that so much of his value was related to money. If he made more money than someone else, he was better than them in the banking world; if he made less money than them, he was less important. This was one factor in the career change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a parent with two young boys, one with a learning difference, interacting with his children created an interest in \u201chow we as people make sense of things.\u201d Why do humans remember telephone numbers by heart but not some random history date? Mr. Klebnikov believed that teaching could give him a better understanding and look at the science behind our brains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final reason that informed Mr. Klebnikov\u2019s decision to switch was the famous maxim, \u201cThose who can do and those who can\u2019t teach.\u201d A derogatory phrase saying that if you can not do anything else, you can become a teacher. But like the other teachers who have made a similar switch as Mr. Klebnikov, there was a calling to teach and value in trying to help young people understand their identity. He continued, \u201cFor me, that became sort of a mission. That\u2019s what I attached value to\u2026 the ability to help, to guide, to support young people at a very vulnerable time in their lives.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Mr. Klebnikov holds his decision to switch career paths highly. When asked if he was fully happy with his decision, he responded with both confirmation and wisdom, \u201cAbsolutely,\u201d he said. \u201cI do not regret any decisions \u2026 I always encourage people to not be afraid to try a profession. Especially for Gen Zers, it is perfectly okay six months later to do something completely different.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stories of Ms. Zhang, Ms. Farkas-Furniss, and Mr. Klebnikov remind us that the most fulfilling careers are not always the ones that follow the most predictable paths. These teachers prove that true success is measured by the impact we make and the lives that we touch. Each of their career shifts was not just a random change they made, they were carefully crafted to find a purpose and passion. As you continue to learn in each of these teachers\u2019 classrooms, remember that it is never too late to follow a new calling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, the most rewarding paths are the ones we least expect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caleb Lopata \u201826, the author, is a staff writer for <\/em>The Grace Gazette.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Media of Ms. Farkas-Furniss and Ms. Zhang provided by Alejandro Izurieta \u201925. Media of Mr. Klebnikov provided by Brain Reilly. What makes someone leave a successful corporate career to become… Continue reading “Boardrooms to Classrooms: Corporate Professionals Turn to Teaching”<\/span> <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":7261,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,8,7],"tags":[180,873],"appful":[],"class_list":["post-7247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-culture","category-school","tag-featured","tag-recentarticles"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9uEnr-1ST","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Screenshot-2025-03-06-at-7.55.01\u202fPM-e1741308950541.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7247"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7265,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7247\/revisions\/7265"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7247"},{"taxonomy":"appful","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/appful?post=7247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}