Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - Dr. Vivian J. Woodard
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Old 06-12-2015, 11:11 AM
sunnyatlast sunnyatlast is offline
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I sense Dr. Woodard is an exceptionally gifted person who earned great opportunities by overcoming great adversity......

From Orlando Sentinel article on her website:

"Woodard grew up in Tildenville, Fla., then a rural community in Winter Garden, Fla., where blacks, like her mother, eked out meager livings as maids.

As a child, Woodard developed an appetite for learning, devouring library books. She even learned Spanish by watching a Spanish soap opera.

“I wanted to learn Spanish, but we did have some competition for the single television set we had,” Woodard said of battles mostly with her mother.....

...She decided to become a scientist, but the child who had skipped ahead two grades found herself in remedial classes when she and other blacks were bused in the early `70s to Lakeview High School in Winter Garden.

A white science teacher went to bat for her, getting her assigned to college prep classes, taking her to science fairs, preparing her for the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

But a cousin who had grown up in poverty in Manatee County, Fla., was attending Harvard Medical School and persuaded Woodard to follow his path....."

See entire article here: Emmanuel Christian Health Center

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