Martha's Story
Martha Hamm, RN BSN
Director of Education
Students are encouraged by the fact that Martha’s experience and interest in helping students come from her years of experience with her own children.
As young children, her daughter, Carolyn, was identified as having learning disabilities and her son, Jeff, was identified as academically talented. Through her experiences, Martha learned ways to support each of her children and now utilizes that knowledge to benefit students at the training center.
Martha helped her daughter, Carolyn, to gain educational advantages that would benefit her for a lifetime. Carolyn gained the confidence and skills needed to earn her Master’s Degree in elementary and special education. She now spends her time organizing, planning, and ensuring that Individualized Education Programs are implemented so that students receive the services they need to be successful.
In contrast, Martha's son was a self-taught reader by the age of three. As a child, Jeff needed supports to be continually challenged. He took college courses in high school and attended Northeastern University on an academic scholarship. He now works as a computer engineer, developing medical software in San Deigo.
Providing support to her son has taught Martha about a very different type of learner. She learned that those with prior high academic achievement often are much more challenged with the hands-on portion of the class.
When students come to our programs fearful and lacking confidence due to past academic performance, or are anxious about the testing aspects of the program, Martha encourages them to meet with her early in the program. These are the students that sometimes identify with having learning disabilities. Martha will meet with students to discuss and identify their needs, and together, they put a plan in place. The goal for these students is to gain the confidence and skills to pass the state nurse aide test.
Meeting the needs of a diverse set of learners can be a challenge, but Martha’s experiences as a nurse, mother, and teacher have taught her to appreciate and support a wide variety of learners to achieve their goals.