Teacher and Student Reunited
Feb. 16 -- When Cynthia Roach was in the fifth grade in Dunellen, N.J., back in 1969, her nickname was "dummy" and her teachers dismissed her as a behavior problem because she refused to read.
But one teacher, Angelo Mone, saw what his colleagues missed: Roach wasn't defiant, but rather an intelligent girl who was struggling to learn. Roach was later diagnosed with dyslexia.
About six months ago, Good Morning America asked viewers to submit the names of teachers who changed their lives. A company that searches for people, 1-800-Bighugs, plucked Roach's story from several hundred responses. And after a 20-year absence Roach was reunited with her teacher on GMA and she got a chance to say thank you.
"Thank you so much for everything you did for me in my life," Roach told Mone on GMA today.
Mone remembered Roach well as "Cyndi," and recalled that she was defiant. She did not want to complete assignments, did not read, and refused to conform to class rules. But he recognized that she had a learning problem and that she needed some extra help, and love.
Mone, who went from being a teacher to school principal, now teaches student teachers at a college in New Jersey. He believes that although he may have helped Roach when he was her teacher, all of her other achievements are through her own efforts.
Still, he said that it is a great reward as a teacher to have a student remember him as a life-changing figure.
Problem Child Finds Success And for someone who was considered not-so-smart in school, Roach has done well for herself. She founded her own record company, "We B Records," and started what is now one of the most successful marketing companies in the music business, ADW Communications, which recently worked on promotions for The Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears.
But along the way, she had to deal with some setbacks. While she was working as general manager and vice president of Assault Records, a Time Warner-distributed label, Roach got in a head-on car crash and sustained major injuries.
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