Berry Fowler Shares How Coaching Changed His Life

 Interview by Jennifer Akers

Newsweek magazine dubbed him the “Colonel Sanders of Education”. Others called him a curriculum genius. Success magazine once reported, “Everything Berry Fowler touches turns to gold”.

Berry thinks of himself as simply a teacher and a coach with a genuine knack for helping others succeed.

At age 65, Berry Fowler’s genius continues with his new company, Fowler Wainwright International Institute of Professional Coaching, and yes, he’s still helping others succeed.

I had a chance to interview Berry and find out how his educational experiences led him to what he’s doing today.

Jennifer: I heard one of the reasons you founded Sylvan is you didn’t learn how to read until you were twenty-four-years-old. Is that true?

Berry: It’s true. Like millions of other children in our country, I managed to fool my way through elementary school, junior high school, high school and all the way into college without having the necessary skills to succeed.

Jennifer:  How did you manage college without being able to read?

Berry: It was a disaster. At the end of my first semester, I was put on academic probation. At the end of my second semester, I was invited to leave. It was a tough experience. I felt like an idiot, but I kept going back.  It wasn’t until my fifth try at college when things finally changed.

Jennifer: Fifth try? What changed?

Berry: I had knocked around trying different things, but I was still determined to finish college. Yet, each time I returned, I would become frustrated again and would quit. This continued for several years until I tried selling life insurance. I hated it, and that motivated me to try college for my fifth time.   I was twenty-four-years-old, determined to get through school this time, and talked my way into being accepted at Chapman University in Orange, California.  At class registration, I noticed a non-credit, speed-reading class for incoming freshman.  I thought reading faster would help me, so I signed up.  I met an amazing woman teaching the class. She told me I didn’t need speed-reading because I had missed some very basic reading skills.  She offered to tutor me; she was confident it would make a big difference. So, for the rest of the semester, she taught me the basics of reading and coached me to believe I could succeed.

Jennifer:  Coaching appears to have worked miracles for you.

Berry: It changed my life. Within one semester, my grades went from low C’s to straight A’s through the rest of my undergraduate and graduate studies. But more important than my grade point average was the way I felt about myself and about school. I began to feel successful,  and college became a place of excitement. It was like somebody turned on the lights after years of darkness, and because of that, I decided I had to become a teacher.

OM Times Magazine » syndicated