Having a learning disability himself, Greg Root has found his passion helping youth work through their disabilities.

Greg Root was surprised when he was invited to the wedding of one of his former fourth grade students.

Root is honored that he has made such an impact in the lives of his students and still smiles when he talks about it. “Almost half of my teaching was done in my hometown where I grew up,” he says. “Two of my sons are there and people still approach my kids and say, ‘I remember your father and really appreciated his teaching style.’ That was really nice.”

Root, a disability coordinator at Metro State’s Access Center for Disability Accommodations and Adaptive Technology, says he is grateful that he has been able to help students overcome their disabilities during his 27 years in education. “I was very challenged in school myself and I have a learning disability, so I wanted to work with children and help them learn and feel good about themselves,” he says. “It was the only profession I wanted to go into when I went to college.”

Root started his education adventure teaching kindergarten through high school in New Hampshire after receiving his bachelor’s degree in special education from Keene State College. He says he enjoyed teaching students how to read effectively by using a variety of teaching methods to make it understandable to the students.

“Suddenly their eyes opened up and they started to read and there’s nothing more important than seeing that transition in the student who all this time thought they were stupid and wouldn’t be able to do this, and yet there they are,” Root describes.

Root has been working at Metro State for six years and has been a disability coordinator for three. He enjoys working one-on-one with students to make college a good experience for them. “My knowledge of the K-12 system has been really effective in this position (at Metro State),” he says.

The Access Center serves students with many different types of learning, emotional and physical disabilities. The students do not have to reveal their disabilities to their classmates and professors and often times are able to get accommodations for their disabilities without anyone knowing.

According to Root, Metro State students are encouraged to be individuals and take charge of their own education. “I really focus on the student and expect all the answers and responses to come from the student,” he says.

Root spent five years in Florida working in heath care management for an orthopedic surgeon before moving to Colorado with his partner, who also works at Metro State. He first worked as the assistant to the dean of professional studies and has also worked as the manager of the teacher education application center.

Root says that the majority of students he works with at Metro State accept responsibility for their mistakes and work really hard. He adds that the center provides students with a level playing field to be successful in college. “I try to empower them so they improve that internal focus and control and take responsibility for their own actions and their own outcomes.”

“I appreciate Metro State’s tagline – ‘Where success begins with you’ – and I remind students about that all the time,” Root says.