While Koreen Parry was growing up on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, her father, David, constantly preached the importance of good grades.
So Parry got them.
“Just to shut him up,” she said, laughing.
Still, her father’s message that education is paramount became indelible. So after a 26-year career in the Marines in which she reached the rank of colonel, Parry is at George Mason University studying to be a teacher.
She also hopes to open a charter school.
“I was always fascinated with learning,” said Parry, 49, who is on course to graduate in 2017 with a master’s in international education through the College of Education and Human Development. “I always wanted to impart that to the younger generation.”
Parry said George Mason’s FAST TRAIN program—with course work in economic, social and political development, conflict resolution and culture geared toward those seeking to work internationally—“is opening doors I didn’t have before. It’s giving me that leg up to teach in an international school, and it’s giving me the background information I need to go forward with my ultimate dream of setting up a school.”
Parry’s journey has been wide-ranging.
A native of Nevis, her family moved to St. Thomas when she was 11 months old. She earned a BA in social and behavioral sciences from Johns Hopkins and in 1992 got her master’s in computer information systems from Boston University.
But it was her military career, which began when she enlisted in 1987 and included a tour in Baghdad during the Iraq war with the State Department’s Reconstruction Management Office, that reinforced her decision to teach.
Especially when she saw youngsters pulled into the conflict.
“Seeing how they recruit young kids to do some of the things they are doing—if they had other opportunities educationally they may not be subject to the influence these people have over them,” Parry said. “I felt that way before, but just having that military experience made it more so.”
“Her willingness to reflect on how her trajectory has shaped who she is and how she can use that to be an effective educator is impressive,” said College of Education and Human Development professor April Mattix Foster, who teaches international education and International Baccalaureate studies, and had Parry in two classes.
Despite an age gap, Parry had a natural ability to bond with her classmates and became a mentor, a good indicator of how she will conduct herself as a teacher, Mattix Foster said: “She wants to give back and share her experiences.”
Parry came off active duty in 2013, though as a reservist she can be recalled any time. For now, she is concentrating on her new career and what her father preached.
“Education is the key to unlocking a lot of doors,” Parry said. “If you use it correctly, there is nowhere you cannot go.”