If someone had told me five years ago that there was going to be a huge recession and massive cut backs in state educational spending, I still would have done it anyway.

Ever since I reenacted the Great Depression in Hopatcong High School teacher Jim Marino's class at age 16, I've wanted to be a high school history teacher. Now, I'm a post-graduate from The College of New Jersey with a bachelor's in history, a master's in teaching and no teaching prospects on the horizon. Even after spending a grueling 15 weeks applying to some 50-odd schools and competing against several hundred candidates for the same position, I found myself in complete panic mode at the end of August.

After many talks that involved my friends and family talking me off a cliff, I thought to myself, what could I do to make myself a better educator in the meantime?

I decided to give something back to our less fortunate school communities.

If you had asked me a year ago where I saw myself, I probably would have said, "Teaching students at a blue ribbon school how to love and appreciate history!" But earlier this year, I spent 15 weeks student teaching near Trenton. You're all probably laughing at me and thinking, "Kids like those don't want to learn."

Wrong.

Kids like that do want to learn. And they can learn. But they also want to know that their teachers care.

I learned this by getting to know my students—what they did outside of school, what their interests were and what they thought of the world. I really took the time to tap into the social and emotional aspects of teaching and learning.

And, let me tell you, I fell in love with working with those students.

So here I am today—not teaching in a public school, but working as the National Urban Technology Center's education programs coordinator, a non-profit organization that strives to meet the social and emotional needs of underprivileged youth through technology.

For 15 years, Urban Tech has designed and implemented a series of online interactive curricula that teach students how to resolve conflict, balance their budgets and finances, develop healthy habits and protect themselves from STDs and AIDS through animated cartoon reels, online journaling and game activities.

Some of you may find this shocking and extremely personal, or even invasive, but Urban Tech has recruited 25,000 students to date and the results are astounding. Students who have engaged in Urban Tech's Youth Leadership Academy have shown significant improvements in academic motivation, self-esteem, and self-awareness.

So where do I come in? As the education programs coordinator, my job is to direct our Elton John AIDS Foundation-funded "Get Healthy, Get Smart!" initiative. Each week, I organize professional development workshops to train NYC teachers how to get over the bashfulness involved in discussing sex and STDs with students and, more importantly, how to effectively implement our interactive curricula. I also follow up with the participating schools through on-site visits and one-on-one training to ensure that each school excels.

I have witnessed firsthand the faults that lie within our education system. Students are learning the core subjects, however, they are seldom given the chance to learn about practical matters outside of academia. Even worse, they are finding little opportunity to explore and discover who they are. And this why I believe my efforts and duties within Urban Tech are monumental.

Rather than training teachers how to teach to the test, I'm helping them learn how to satisfy those social and emotional needs that their students may not be receiving at home through the use of engaging and interactive technology.

Editor's note: For more information about the National Urban Technology Center, go to urbantech.org.