Ten years ago, when Terri Mack learned she had a severe allergy to flour, she was forced to give up her nine-year career as a baker. That loss led to her finding her true self and all the strength and power that comes from such a discovery.

Although her mother was an aboriginal woman from the Alert Bay area, Kerri had been raised by her Hungarian father and really didn't remember her mother or any of her mother's family. She may have looked aboriginal but she always thought of herself as Hungarian even though she had never met any of her Hungarian relatives either.

As she searched for her next career after baking, Terri kept meeting people who lead her toward Tillucum Haus and the ten-month Aboriginal Education Assistant program. It seemed like a good fit but for one thing, she knew little about aboriginal culture ... so she began to study and learn.

Looking back over her life Terri says, "I haven't always walked the red road (the healthy road). It's been a challenge to get to where I am today and I attribute a lot of who I used to be to not knowing my family and being proud of that part of my being. We need to know where we come from before we can stand tall, walk straight and believe in ourselves."

After a couple of years on the job as an aboriginal education assistant, Terri met Donna Klockars and began, with Donna's support, to focus her attention on literacy programs - teaching reading to younger students, all students, not just aboriginals and her passion was fired.

Over the past five or six years, even though she has no formal university credits, Terri has helped develop literacy programs on the lower mainland, lead in-service literacy training programs across the Island, participated in the development of a post-graduate literacy program at SFU -- and, although she is not an "official" student, will soon complete the course. Currently, along with Donna Klockars and others, she is working with SFU and the First Nations Education Steering Committee to develop a new graduate degree program for First Nations educators.

This summer she will also launch the new "Nanaimo Rec 'n Reading" program for students in Grades 1 to 3 who are reading below grade level. The program will run for three weeks at Quarterway School and another three weeks at Uplands Park. It will feature literacy training in the mornings and fun in the afternoon. You can find out more by calling either school.

Terri's next goal is to become a qualified teacher. She thanks Donna Klockars for helping her develop the self-confidence needed to see that as a possibility and she has been trying to pass on that same self-confidence to other aboriginal education assistants.

Marie Harel, Terri's former principal at Quarterway School, nominated her because, "Terri has a magical aura around her. She has a strong vision grounded in ethical principles and she is full of caring, love, goodness and sincerity." How would you like your boss, or anyone for that matter, to say things like that about you?

As she searched for her aboriginal roots, Terri discovered that her mother had died when she was 12 years old but she found over 500 aboriginal family members and is proud of having been given a family name which translates as, "She who appears and disappears quickly". The first child to have been given this name is also reputed to have been able to fly - The name seems to fit well don't you think?

Finally, as the father of just one daughter, I've got to add that Terri's number one Neighbourhood Hero is her dad.