Teaching is probably considered by most people to be a noble profession. In the grade school setting, teachers are the link between youth and adulthood that exists exclusively outside the home. And helping students make the transition to early adulthood is a noble cause that’s very much an integral component of Tricia Vitelli-Harkin’s sense of being.

Fitting of her commitment to the intellectual and mental health of her students, Tricia was recently voted Teacher of the Year. The choice was made collectively, by popular vote of all the students at North Haven High School.

“I’m very, very honored by the recognition,” states Tricia. “I love teaching and I love being in the classroom. It lights me up and it’s very similar to my role as a mom. So, to be honored by those whom you care about so deeply is a different type of honor that I had yet to experience in my life. That's the best way to describe it.”

Born and raised in North Haven, Tricia says she attended public schools at the elementary level, but “then my parents chose to send my sister, Jennifer, and [me] to private schools from middle school up,” she recalls, adding, “however, all my children all attend North Haven Public School,” with two in the high school, one in middle school, and the fourth still at the elementary level.

It was her high school experience that made its biggest impact on Tricia, during her most formative years.

“When I left Sacred Heart Academy heading to Catholic University [in Washington, D.C.],” she continues, “I really had all hopes and dreams of becoming the President of the United States.”

Tricia was, after all, president of her class at Sacred Heart and a member of the student council, and she was truly inspired to lead and help others from a position of authority.

“When I set my goals, I set them very high and I strive for them,” she explains. To help her in her ambition for a career in politics, Tricia majored in political science and minored in history at Catholic University, and she also voraciously studied any type of history that would help her to prepare for something that she felt she could attain.

“I'm not one to believe we are limited in any way shape or form, nor do I teach my students, or my own children that. So, I believed I could be president,” recalls Tricia.

She then experienced a change of heart, but not because the goal was impossible—someone always becomes President of the United States, after all—but she devoted one day to helping the Clinton campaign during her freshman year, and after just that brief time in the dog-eat-dog political arena, Tricia admits, “I knew the energy of that lifestyle was not for me. My heart is way too kind and at that point, I was way too naive to understand” the kinds of personal interactions involved in politics.

That was when Tricia geared her course study in both politics and history to get as much out of the university’s resources as possible and learn what would be most helpful for her life’s journey that she could, in turn, teach to others.

Realizing that teaching was her calling, Tricia fell in love with the idea that being a good teacher was more than just imparting facts to others but acting as a healer in other ways as well.

“When you are a teacher, you are a born teacher,” explains Tricia, and it was that understanding that made her realize her own calling and that through teaching she could have a far greater positive impact on the world—one student at a time—than working in the sometimes-ruthless political arena.

After two decades in the public school system, Tricia is now preparing to add to her sphere of inspiration, by also reaching out to adults to help them leave past traumas or difficulties behind and find healing in their lives.

“I change children's lives,” says Tricia. “I've been doing it for years and it's the most glorious thing ever, and now I want to change and help adult lives. I'm super excited I just started my coaching business.”

As Tricia branches out to help as many people as she can going forward, she also plans to continue leading in the school classroom for as long as possible.

“I am very much guided by my faith and knowing what I teach my students helps them,” Tricia continues. “I've never been more in tune to myself than I ever have been and being this in-tune and being open to receiving guidance from God or the universe or whatever resonates best, that is just taking me on what I know is going to be a great journey.”

Public speaking of the motivational sort is in Tricia’s future because she says, “I would love to raise consciousness to help everyone find a happier level. I've gone through my spiritual awakening in the past year, and it's been an amazing growth. I'm so ready to share that with whoever is ready and wants to grow and evolve because I think a lot of people are stuck, so that's my vision.”

To help Tricia enter her next chapter of helping and healing others she’s already been offered space for when she starts her gathering of like-minded people.

“I’d like people to understand my way of thinking and how it’s helped me,” Tricia says, adding “It really is just a perception change, but there is some work that you have to do. You have to dive deep. Some people call it [facing] the ‘dark night of the soul,’ but let me tell you it's worth it. I've never been more fulfilled.”

People are often too fear-based, explains Tricia, and they go into survivor mode and think about a particular event or set of circumstances as “this is happening to me as opposed to this is happening for me,” states Tricia.

She hopes to change all that for people who are willing to listen, and, as she teaches to her school students, inspire adults to surround themselves with people who believe they are creators and to draw from their positive, can-do, energy.

“If you stick around them long enough you will pick up on that,” she says.

“I know there is a book in me,” says Tricia, and she wants to combine education and spiritual awareness to help others. “I have so much to share because I’m open to receiving it.”

Until she begins her classes along the shoreline and writes that book, Tricia’s advice is simple: Stop holding onto negative energy that blocks happiness and contentment.

“So many of us live from a fear mentality and a victim mentality,” she concludes. “And I’ve put a lot of effort into being a creator and living in a love-based mentality versus fear-based. You really can reprogram your mind to think and believe whatever makes you feel the best, and once you learn how to do that, and practice it, it pays off.”

To learn more about Tricia’s work as a life coach and sign up for her free messages of encouragement, visit her website at loveyourselffirst.world.