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Barbara Teed

Biography

When Barb Teed entered community college in 2004, an academic counselor suggested she use her writing skills at the student newspaper. "I discovered a new love: reporting the news. I wrote about issues that students and community members cared about. I heard their passion, saw their despair, and felt their joy. And this I expressed in telling their stories in my campus newspaper. I learned I have an insatiable curiosity for information." She won numerous campus reporting and journalism awards, and, in January 2007, received the Minnesota Newspaper Association College Better Newspaper Contest prize for student investigative reporting.

An example of conscience was set by Barb's father. He served as president of the Minnesota Board of Realtors in the 1960s when Barb attended high school. Barb's father stood up for laws to end housing discrimination, despite receiving threats and losing three businesses. After this turmoil, Barb completed a one-year secretarial certificate. Even when budget cuts ended her position as executive director of the Bloomington Crime Prevention Association, she continued to volunteer as a board member and helped raise funds for police dogs, bulletproof vests for officers, and a high school program for at-risk students. She worked in a shopping mall security job and became convinced of her need to complete a college degree to support herself and her two children who remained at home. Finally, in 2003, she received a scholarship and enrolled at Normandale Community College.

Barb creates photographic art, and hopes to practice photojournalism in her career. "I photographed and created The Many Faces of Down syndrome, an exhibit that travels as part of a speakers' program for audiences of future teachers of students with Down syndrome." Barb's fourth child, Ryan, was born with Down syndrome. His condition inspired Barb to become president of the Twin Cities Down syndrome Association, which turned from a small local group to a statewide association of more than 3,000 members under Barb's leadership. Barb also became an advocate for children with disabilities, developing solutions to help them remain in their neighborhood schools. "The prejudice I had seen with racism, I saw happening with people with disabilities."

"I see every day that my past experiences have prepared me for everything ahead."

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