ST. PETERSBURG, FL \u2014 Even in retirement, a former high school teacher and guidance counselor remains dedicated to her students. <\/p>\n
Seminole resident Patty Brewer now uses her talents for creating upcycled art to raise funds for nontraditional students as they move forward in life, whether it\u2019s earning their GED diploma or entering their first year of college. <\/p>\n
She taught high school and served as a guidance counselor for Pinellas County Schools for years before moving into adult education at the Tomlinson Adult Learning Center in St. Petersburg. <\/p>\n
Brewer was drawn to the returning students seeking their GED. Many of them, often, had been out of the school system for years at this point. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese are people who, for whatever reason, couldn\u2019t make it through high school,\u201d she told Patch. \u201cA lot of times it was because maybe their mom had to work and they had to watch their baby brother or sister too much and couldn\u2019t keep up with their school work or their mom\u2019s sick and this is a teenage kid who now has to help out. Sometimes it was because they were bullied. There was always something that would keep them from making it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, though she\u2019s retired, she still finds ways to help these returning students. <\/p>\n
While Brewer sometimes works as a tutor, most of her efforts go into her art business, which she\u2019s dubbed ReJuvelant. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe best part of being retired is I still get to do what I like to do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She\u2019d always been creative, especially in the classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always say I\u2019m not an artist; I\u2019m a crafty individual,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
She takes unused materials \u2014 jewelry pieces, scarves, fabric scraps \u2014 \u201cto design something different with them and sell them,\u201d Brewer said. \u201cPeople give me back these lost and broken pieces of jewelry and in my head, I design something cool and I can\u2019t stop until I\u2019m done with it.\u201d <\/p>\n
All proceeds from her art sales benefit students. <\/p>\n
\u201cStudents I\u2019ve known. Students I learn about from teacher friends in the system,\u201d she said. \u201cIt could be money for food or tuition or books.\u201d<\/p>\n
These funds are transformational for some students who just need a little extra help to get ahead, Brewer added. \u201cThese aren\u2019t students who just chose not to go to school. They\u2019re not lazy; they\u2019re not sitting at home and watching cartoons. Now, when they get a second chance, it\u2019s magical.\u201d<\/p>\n
She sells her work during most Second Saturday ArtWalks \u2014 including this Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m. \u2014 at the ArtsXChange campus, 515 22nd Street S.<\/p>\n
Her work can also be found at Cozy Corners Antiques & Collectibles, 6491 66th Street. M., Pinellas Park, and Resale Oasis, 11171 Seminole Blvd., Largo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, FL \u2014 Even in retirement, a former high school teacher and guidance counselor remains dedicated to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-155617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-st-pete","9":"tag-st-pete-headlines","10":"tag-st-pete-news","11":"tag-st-petersburg","12":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","13":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}