 Most of Jackie Nink Pflug's life was the norm--playing with her childhood friends, studying, attending dances. She was born and raised in Pasadena, Texas, received a Bachelor's degree in Education from Sam Houston State University in 1977 and went on to get her Master's degree in Education and Diagnostics at the University of Houston in 1984. She taught regular and special education for seven years in Baytown, Texas. Then in the fall of 1984, she left Texas and the United States, and moved to Stavanger, Norway, where she set up the Special Education Department at Stavanger American School. In 1985, she moved to Cairo, Egypt, where she taught at the Cairo American School. It was exciting, different, and challenging. Then tragedy struck. While on a weekend holiday trip, she became a victim of terrorism on Egypt Air #648. She was shot execution style in the head with a .38 caliber revolver in one of the world's bloodiest hijackings. Fifty-nine passengers were killed before the incident ended. Jackie survived. But as a result of her head injury, she was forced to cope daily with emotional, physical, and learning disabilities. Instead of giving up, Jackie used her nine years of expertise in Special Education to train and rehabilitate herself. Her ordeal at the hands of terrorists has been well documented by all the mass media. Magazines, newspapers, and television talk shows still recount the incident and detail the progress she has made against tremendous odds. Jackie has made multiple appearances on syndicated shows, including Donahue and Oprah Winfrey. She travels nationally and internationally to speak each month to groups of business executives, educational leaders, students, professional associations, and community groups. In her presentations, she relays the story of her captivity; then details the coping skills she has employed to survive and grow, and most importantly, how the audience can apply these methods to their own lives. Each time, emotions surface, barriers fall, and the audience becomes open to changing their own ways for coping with daily personal as well as professional challenges. Mountains don't seem as tall as before, and trivialities in life lose their importance, leading the listener to focus on more important professional and personal issues.
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