Most of my education was spent in long hours of frustration. I had learning difficulties from the very beginning. At the school psychologist’s bidding, I was held back in the fourth grade. This did not help much academically and even worse, I was devastated watching my peers move ahead without me. I struggled through high school and upon graduation, hoped for college, but realistically expected a career in auto mechanics. Reaching for my higher education dream, I enrolled in our local community college. After one semester of agony and disappointment I was placed on academic probation. A manual labor career was looking more likely than ever. Fortunately, my parents had always encouraged my desire for a college education and my father ‘bought’ me into a small Christian college in Oregon. There I was put into remedial education classes and a neurological rehabilitation program to try to solve some of the visual and auditory problems affecting my ability to learn. It was as if someone had turned on a light bulb. Reading got easier and my ability to comprehend what I was seeing and hearing became effortless. I could finally learn and retain information. The next year I had the honor of being on the Dean’s List. What a transformation! My brain hadn’t changed, but my ability to use it had. Fueled with my new abilities, I went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology and became interested in visual perception. I was accepted into the College of Optometry and specialized in visual perception and its effects on learning. I completed that four-year program in the top quarter of my class and obtaining my doctoral fellowship in Developmental and Rehabilitative Neuro Optometry. After a successful 35-year career as an optometrist, I was preparing to retire when fate, and the memory of how some dedicated educators at a small college changed my life, stepped in. Determined to empower children the way I was, I founded a public school where we bring neurological science and education together. Understanding the skills and thought processes gifted students use, we teach those techniques to all students, enabling every child to reach for whatever star they want. I have found the vocation waiting for me from the very first day of my school career. A vision combined with persistence was critical in reaching my goals. Every teacher I had, the demeaning and discouraging to the good and inspiring, have shaped who I have become. Dr. Eldon RosenowGreat Valley AcademyModesto, CA 95350erosenow@msn.comCell: 209.765.8828