Joe Martin speaks Wednesday during the Public Education Foundation's 25th anniversary luncheon at the Chattanoogan Hotel Ballroom.Motivational speaker Joe Martin knew how to grab the attention of teachers Wednesday at the Public Education Foundation's 25th anniversary luncheon.
"Most school teachers are average to plain awful," Martin told the crowd in The Chattanoogan hotel ballroom.
That came midway through a 15-minute talk Martin gave about the importance of great teachers.
The love and admiration he had for his seventh-grade English teacher, "Miss G.," saved his life, he said. Martin said he was born to an abusive, 16-year-old mother and grew up fatherless in the toughest housing project in Miami.
But the influence of Miss G. and another educator set him on the path to be the first in his family to graduate from high school and college. At age 24, Martin became Florida's youngest-ever college professor, he said. He now makes a living as a speaker, author and educator in Chattanooga, where he moved two years ago because it's his wife's hometown.
Martin figures that a student learns from about 100 teachers between starting kindergarten and earning a bachelor's degree.
"You have 100 opportunities to be impacted ... in a profound way," he said.
Then Martin asked audience members to stand at their tables if they were affected during their lifetime by 50, 10, five, four, three, two -- or one teacher.
"Most people stand up at five," he said.
The higher number of great teachers a student encounters, the better he will do, Martin said, citing his sister, who had three great teachers in her life, as an example.
"My sister became the first doctor in our family," he said.
Martin wished three great educators -- instead of two -- had impacted his life.
"You know what that would mean? That it would be me in the White House now, not Obama," Martin said, drawing laughter from the crowd.
Wednesday's luncheon honored the three people who have served as chairpersons of the Public Education Foundation's Board of Directors since the nonprofit organization was founded in 1988: Robert J. "Bo" Sudderth Jr., Ruth Holmberg and James Hill, the current chairman.
The foundation's president, Dan Challener, thanked everyone and all the organizations that the Public Education Foundation has partnered with during the past 25 years.
"Everything PEF does, it does with partners," he said. "Every. Single. Thing."
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/tim.omarzu or twitter.com/TimOmarzu or 423-757-6651.