Amanda Paull

WR#12 TA#2
COMM231-0101
Nov. 25, 2015
A#3 Mainbar: Endurance
SEO: Anne Spear transforms from drug abuser to doctorate student
When a young Anne Spear fell into the wrong crowd in high school, she found her life fall into a
dark spiral into drugs and depression. After witnessing her colored friend get arrested for a crime
they were both committing, she found a spark to make a difference and slowly began a lifelong
journey to change others lives. After the Peace Corps and working with juvenile delinquents,
she is currently finishing her Ph.D. at the University of Maryland.
Current UMD teacher Anne Spear pulls herself out of a destructive life
From drugs to the Peace Corps, Anne Spear endures all
As the door to her comfortable childhood home slams behind her, the brisk air hits Anne
Spear, leaving her with a shiver down her spine. She knows where she is going, and who she will
see, but the need to feel something overpowers the need to follow the rules. Spear is going to
meet her friend, Rachel Longley, and partake in their usual teenage pastimes, getting high with
each other. The day was so usual that Spear had no idea her life would change only an hour later.
While the two were sitting together, suddenly the red and blue lights from an oncoming
police car blind Longley and Spear, and with shaking hands and blurry eyes, Spears spinning
head forces a scream out as her best friend is handcuffed and thrown into the back of the police
car. All simply because her skin is a darker shade than Spears.
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A. Paull, WR#12 TA#2, A#3 Mainbar: Endurance, p.2

This incident sparked a fire in Spear, and inside of her burned a passion to end the
injustice people face simply because of their race. Spear, a woman who struggled through
constant family disapproval and drug abuse faces a harsh reality about her future, and instead of
accepting her fate, she stood up and made a difference for herself. Spear decided to go back to
school, work with juvenile delinquents, travel and study the Venezuelan prison system, go on the
Peace Corps in Burkina Faso and eventually teach at UMD and get her Ph.D. Spears hard times
proved there is a way to pick your life up from the darkest points and that nothing is impossible.
Not a day wasted
After her whole life of not wanting to go to college, Anne Spear decided to attend
Radford University in Virginia, and began her education in order to better her life through
helping others.
At this time, Spear fell in love with sociology, a subject which she said captured me.
Without finding this major and feeling this deep connection to the subject matter, I would not
have been in school, nor be the person I am today.
Throughout her time at Radford, every summer Spear would travel to Merida, Venezuela
to continue her education and study the prison systems there. Spear described what she saw as
traumatic. The men in the prisons were held in huge holding cells with about 50 people per cell.
The men had little to no provisions and lived amongst constant violence and filth.

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A. Paull, WR#12 TA#2, A#3 Mainbar: Endurance, p.3

This experience living and learning in Venezuela gave Spear her first insight into helping
others who are living in bad conditions. It was the starting point of her life dedicated to others.

After Spear graduated with a degree in sociology, she took her passion to the real world
and quickly found a job working with juvenile delinquents in Massachusetts. According to Spear,
this experience completely changed everything I believed in and opened my eyes up to the
world. I was able to connect to those who have had similar lives. This was the first time I felt like
I actually made a difference.
At this job, she would led nature walks with the juveniles so that they could find
themselves and connect with nature in a constructive way. This combination of nature and
juvenile delinquents proved to be successful so they could open up and feel safe.
Lack of support
After Spear moved to Massachusetts, she found herself in a completely new environment
with little to no support from her family. As the youngest, Spear was always considered a
disappointment to the rest of her family. Her father, a successful engineer, has drilled the idea
into Spear and her two older brothers heads that you go to college then get a good job to support
yourself.
Spear, barely making the decision to go to college, was isolated from her family and
received no financial or emotional support. Her brothers, one an engineer and one a biologist,
were seen as the successes of the family. Spear was simply an aspiring activist with a lack of
motivation.
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A. Paull, WR#12 TA#2, A#3 Mainbar: Endurance, p.4
Having felt this way her whole life, this lack of support pushed Spear into being more
passionate and determined to prove her family wrong. Spear said, while the transition was hard,

I had to depend on myself for everything in my life. It made me stronger and I knew I had it in
me to do well.
Bettering herself
This drive in Spear eventually led her to go back to school in Wyoming to get her
masters degree in international studies. In order to finish her degree, Spear was able to attend
the Peace Corps and get the rest of her credits. Spear said the Peace Corps was the next chapter
in my life, and I was able to learn even more about myself and another culture.
While at the Peace Corps, Spear was in the girls education and empowerment program
and would work alongside women in the fields, shelling peanuts in their homes, and living the
life as a typical Burkina Faso woman.
Spear said, this time in Burkina Faso was not easy, nor was it something that I can only
look back on positively. It was hard constantly being told I had no power because I was a
woman, and this experience made me realize how little I knew about everything.
Longley, Spears friend who encouraged her to pursue a better life said, After this
experience she came home a more caring and open person. I saw something within her had
changed for the better.

(more)
A. Paull, WR#12 TA#2, A#3 Mainbar: Endurance, p.5
Final test
Taking what she learned from the Peace Corps, Spear took a job in Miami, Florida
teaching at Madison Middle School. This middle school was in a low-income area, and as a

teacher Spear had to buy every supply she would need with her own money. This experience, one
of the hardest Spear has ever faced, tested Spears endurance.
The children at this school faced no support at home, and many came from abusive
homes. The children had no motivation to learn, and Spear struggled with inspiring others to act.
From this frustration, Spear felt she wasnt ready nor equipped to have this job. She decided she
needed more education before she was ready to make a difference at Madison Middle School.
Spear felt the need to return to school to get her Ph.D. in international studies at the
University of Maryland, and is currently working to finish her degree there.
From her dark past, Anne Spear saw she could make a difference in peoples lives and
proved to everyone she was important. Through the endurance and strength she showed, she
became a role model to everyone she came in contact with. Moving forward, Spear is going to
finish her Ph.D. then finish what she started at Madison Middle School in Miami, Florida. She is
going to take her newfound skills and return to face her hardest challenge.
Spears story is one which others can grow and learn from. While it is easy to find
yourself going down a bad road, true strength is shown when someone picks themselves out of
that. Spear completely turned her life around, and it is a story which inspires others to pick up
their heads and believe in themselves. Nothing is impossible with determination.
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