by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Teaching comes naturally to Trudye Blackard even though it’s something she never thought she’d do.
“It is the one thing I said I would never do because I couldn’t wait to get out of high school,” said Blackard, an agent with Watson Realty. “Now, I see high school seniors getting ready to drop out and I work hard to pull them through. It’s so discouraging to them and I have so many rewarding stories of those that have made it.”
She teaches a diversified cooperative training course at Forrest High School where students attend school half a day and go to work the other half.
Blackard leaves school at 2:30 p.m. weekdays and goes to the Watson office by 3 or 3:30 p.m.
“I never work at Watson during school hours,” she said. “I’m called the ‘Vampire of Watson’ because I’m there from 3 p.m. until. I show houses in the late afternoon, at night and on the weekends.”
Blackard specializes in homes located in the historic areas of Riverside, Avondale and Ortega, and closed $2.2 million last year.
Blackard has a bachelor’s degree in education from University of North Florida and uses her teaching education in real estate all the time.
“I feel like I’m teaching all the time because I am educating the buyers on different areas of Jacksonville, the different school systems and different choices of neighborhoods,” said Blackard. “I enjoy taking them through the whole process of buying a house, which includes selecting a lender, determining the amount they can spend, different choices of areas, different styles of houses, priorities they are trying to meet, dealing with the paperwork, giving suggestions on home inspectors, wood destroying organisms and mold. I assist them with all of that.”
She said she finds a great connection between teaching and real estate.
“I enjoy trying to match the house and needs of client,” she said “I enjoy meeting new people and filling their needs. It’s almost a human resources job which is what I’m doing with the students by trying to find the job they want. It’s a service to me. I find it very rewarding when we find the house that thrills them. I take all of this information back into the classroom by showing them how important their credit is for the future. They want to have a house one day, so I take life events and real estate back into the classroom.
“I do it because I want to. I enjoy teaching, but I love real estate and I see that is where I will be in my future.”
Blackard went into real estate two and one half years ago — a single mom, she was facing an empty nest at home and wanted to secure her future with something new and exciting.
“I really had such a fear of the empty nest syndrome,” she said. “My daughter, Blair, was leaving to go to college. I had just put my house on the market and a friend encouraged me go into real estate. I had always enjoyed looking at houses. And I love it.”
Blackard has been teaching a total of 23 years, split between two different teaching stints.
She moved to Jacksonville in 1972 and decided to get a teaching degree.
“I thought I would go get a teaching degree in case I ever wanted to teach,” said Blackard. “It was a good job to have with a family.”
When she graduated, she began teaching the diversified cooperative training course and loves it.
She started teaching at White and stayed there for 12 years until she took a break to have a baby. After the baby, she took a hiatus from teaching and joined a private school, St. Mark’s Episcopal Day School, as an assistant librarian and then Episcopal High School in the college guidance and admissions department.
She decided to get back to teaching and went back to public school, and she’s been at Forrest for 10 years.
“So much positive is happening in the public schools,” said Blackard. “You work with them on their jobs, too. We help them get a wide variety of jobs at grocery stores, retail stores, law firms, doctor offices and restaurants. We try very hard to get them office jobs that will lead to a future. We also go out and visit them at their jobs. I teach a basic business curriculum consisting of interviewing, check writing, credit and life skills.”
The program allows the students to get out into the real world and test the waters.
“I really believe it is important to find out what you don’t like as much as what you do like,” she said. “These students will be tax supporting citizens instead of tax burdens, that is a goal that I have. It is great to see them years later on the career path they have chosen.”
Blackard actually had a chance reunion with a previous student when she had her baby; a former student was working in the same hospital.
“Many of my former students work in management, law firms or insurance companies,” said Blackard. “They really have excelled in their own areas. It makes me feel really good that they have done well in life.”
Blackard balances her two lives with ease and is glad she took the plunge into a new career.
“I just wanted more,” she said. “I also feel like there is something more out there for me. There is a time and a season for everything and I wanted something new and exciting in my life. I try to keep the curriculum as fresh as I can, but it still gets stale.”