1. Ron Newhouse – A Little About Me Introduction: EDU 671 Fundamentals of Educational Research

2. My Family My wife of 18 years and I live in the Youngstown, OH area, where we grew up and went to school together. She owns her very own nail salon, Envy Nail Bar, and I help to build the Chevy Cruze in Lordstown, OH while most people are sleeping!

3. Our Very Busy Kids! Our daughter is finishing her junior year of high school, and is a national competition dancer for a local dance studio. She has had an incredible year so far, winning three titles and several scholarships for her tap solo! She is getting ready for Applause Talent’s National dance competition in Charleston, SC in three weeks.

4. Our Very Busy Kids! Our son is looking forward to summer vacation and the fourth grade. Our little man has had some dancing success as well. Last year, he won Petite Mr. Starpower for his contemporary solo in Uncasville, CT. He’s taking it slower this year; however, only participating in a hip hop routine, as he has decided that football better suits his style!

5. My Education I graduated from Austintown Fitch High School in 1994, with an academic partial scholarship to Youngstown State University, which I attended for five quarters. I felt very burned out and in 1996 decided to take a year off… I never made it back. Late in 2008, I transferred to Ashford University online and two years ago received a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Science with Education Concentration and a Minor in History.

6. My Education My K-12 experience was a relatively easy one. I took to learning easily and always got good grades - sometimes with minimal effort, which often left me bored. I did participate in gifted programs and extracurricular enrichment programs, but they weren’t always engaging and I do sympathize with students today that aren’t being challenged enough in school.

7. My Education My favorite teacher in high school was my American Authors English teacher, Ron Straka. His lessons were so rich in material, covering various social, economic, and political issues faced by early American colonists, that I never needed to bother with taking notes in either his class or through much of my American History class that year. His style and teaching ethic have always been an inspiration to me.

8. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” - Nelson Mandela I especially like this quote by Nelson Mandela regarding the power of education because it mirrors my own opinions regarding the power of education as a whole. I believe that a vast majority of our issues in modern day society can be resolved the same way our ancestors solved their problems, and that at the heart of issues surrounding race, religion, sexual orientation, and politics, tolerance and education are key.