Katie Yankey January 3, 2013 Dr.

Trupe PDP 450 PDP Reflective Essay Over the past four years, Bridgewater College has modeled me into the individual that I am now. I came to Bridgewater knowing that I wanted to be a teacher, but I never imagined at how difficult that dream would be. I believe that if I had not been so dead set on being a teacher that I probably would never have finished college due to the experiences I had outside of it. During my time at Bridgewater College I was able to grow through the four dimensions of intellectual growth and discovery, citizenship and community involvement, ethical and spiritual growth, and physical growth and maturation. Through these four dimensions have determined how I want to spend the rest of my life. I have learned what is important to me and I owe it to all the hardships and learning experiences that have challenged me. Bridgewater College prides itself on educating the whole person and making its students more well rounded individuals. College is meant to be a time for intellectual growth and finding ones true passion in what they want to do for their whole life. I came to college knowing that I wanted to be a teacher. When I was thirteen I volunteered for a summer art camp at Elkton Elementary School in Elkton, Virginia. I immediately realized that teaching was not something someone choice, because they liked kids or wanted summers off, but it was a profession you have a passion for. After that day I knew I had to be a teacher there was no other profession that I could ever imagine doing. Bridgewater College has one of the most reputable Teacher Education Programs in the Mid Valley Consortium, which is why I came to the college. I started

the Teacher Education Program knowing how to teach, but not understanding the technicalities of the profession. The beginning of the teacher education program was mainly an introduction into the history of teaching, which I did not find helpful. It is nice knowing the history of a profession, but only after understanding fully the profession, which even now upon graduation am told by many of my professors at how little we are taught in college. It was not until the spring semester of my sophomore year that I actually felt like I learned something that would help me in my quest on becoming a teacher. Dr. Rogers Early Literacy course is the first class that taught me how to teach. I was given the opportunity to learn to write real lesson plans and beneficial information about how to teach reading to Prekindergarten through second graders. During this class I watched my lesson planning abilities grow and change due to Dr. Rogers critical and helpful teaching style. Through her two semester classes I learned the information necessary to pass the Reading for Virginia Educators test and the information necessary to teach children how to read, which benefited me during my service learning experiences at Plains Elementary School tutoring. My senior year was when I found my intellectual growth truly be pushed to new levels. During the fall semester of 2013 I took my lightest class load ever of only twelve credit hours. I thought that this would give me time to rebuild my relationships with my family as well as earn money so that I would not have to work during my student teaching. However, this plan did not work out. Dr. Hawk and Dr. Carrs, Instructional Strategies and Curriculum (EDUC 406) course required more time and effort than any other class I have ever taken. The course forced me to learn to repeat information quickly and learn to new ways to learn and retain information quickly, because there was not enough time to truly learn the information. The course had a large unit project that required more time and attention than what I could give it. I had to give up

my hope of seeing my family and having the cash to pay my bills to complete the unit. The project consists of ten days of lesson planning all that build upon one another, an annotated bibliography, a vocabulary game, list of instructional strategies used, overarching unit goals, community involvements, pretests and post tests, extra time burner activities, and all of the activities and materials I would use in the ten days of lesson planning. The unit needed to use either a science or social studies SOL that is adapted for our students who we will be teaching in the spring. My project ended up being 122 pages of material, which was all hand made by myself. I used all of my own ideas and all of the materials I made myself instead of getting them from my cooperating teacher or another teacher resource. This project really fostered my learning on how much time it takes to be a teacher as well as the importance of planning. I also thought it was great having our college professor look over our lesson plans and give us feedback on how we could make the unit project even better for our students. I hope that when I am student teaching or even teaching having a colleague look over my material to be sure that it is the best for my students. This project pushed my intellectual growth and I am so grateful that I was able to complete this project. I just wish I could have had more practice with creating units earlier in my college career, so that now going into student teaching I would feel more comfortable with the concept. My intellectual growth was fostered again during my senior fall semester in my Senior Seminar course. The class was created to help tie up the loose ends of our education of teaching that we did not receive earlier in our college experience. Each week we covered a new concept about teaching that we were not taught earlier that is important for this profession. The class had to cover so much material that most weeks we covered two or three concepts in the fifty minute class, and were then expected to know them. This class made me realize how much there truly is

to know about teaching that I never learned and will have to learn during my student teaching experience. My Senior Seminar class had to complete a large reflective portfolio. This portfolio covered the ten INTASC standards for teaching and how we as pre-service teachers can demonstrate these standards. The portfolio was created online and we had to reflect on all of the projects, papers, and materials we had completed during our four years of college and how they related to the standards. The portfolio allowed me to see how much I have grown during my four years, and see how much my ability to write lessons and create projects has developed. I was able to see how over the years the classes have built upon one another and after each one I was able to incorporate new aspects of teaching. The portfolio is one that I am supposed to show to employers and hope that this will showcase my talents as a teacher even with my lack of teaching experience. My seminar class was even able to hear from principals and how creating the website portfolio was a much better decision than a binder, because they normally do not look at the binders, but a webpage would be easier for them. I think incorporating technology into the portfolio is a better idea for future teachers, because it shows how we can bring that into the classroom. During my first semester at Bridgewater College in my Introduction to Education (140) course I was able to read the book, The Game of School, by Robert Fried. The book tells about how school is not about learning, but instead about getting the best grade possible with doing the least amount of work. Students have learned how to give teacher what they are looking for without learning anything at all. Students are not the only ones to blame, because the problem is not on them but on the institution. Schools focus on the ending grade and not on the learning process, which in truth is more important. Most of the information students are required to learn

does not relate to them in their daily lives, so then it loses its importance. Dr. Hawk meant for us to read this book to inspire us to be better educators by being better students as well as trying to change the educational institution for our students. However, over the past four years I have reflected upon this book many times during my college experience and have realized at how true this book is. The majority of my college classes were not relatable to my future profession or even related to my life. This would be a problem according to Fried, because then the student would not try as hard. I found this be very true for myself. These courses that had no relation to my life were the ones that I did the bare minimum in. I did what I had to do to get a good grade and that was all. The only courses I put any effort into were my education courses, because they were the only ones that would me get where I wanted to be in my educational goals. I also found in college that more emphasis was put on the ending grade and less on the learning experience. Professors were not worried about how much time and effort we put into a paper or on a project, but instead more interested in meeting specific checks on a list that they thought were important. I have also seen during my field experiences how teachers have lost a passion for their students education, because they are so determined to have their students meet their SOL goals that they do not stop to let the students learn. These are all institutional problems that are then transcended to their students and a flawed educational cycle keeps repeating. I have thought many times how learning would be different if these flaws were fixed, but the problem arises how you fix these problems. These are questions that will take into student teaching as well as my future career, because of my reflection on my own college experience. I do not know how to fix the problems besides leaving room in a rubric for effort, but then the state does allow for effort in its standardize testing. Before reading this book I thought the education system was perfect, but after I realized how many issues there are with the system. I was also able to see

through my own efforts in college at how true this book is through a students stand point, and I can only hope to change some of the flaws in the educational system for my students. Over the past four years at Bridgewater College, I have seen through my courses how much I have grown through my education. I have watched how my education courses have built upon one another and have seen my talents in the education profession develop. I have gone from just observing in field experience classrooms to teaching small groups to teaching to whole groups of students. Even though I question the education system, because of the lack of relation it has to ones life. The classes that do relate can have a huge impact just like the education courses have had on mine. Classes teach a person many of the things that they need to know, but it does not teach a person everything. Learning can come from sitting in a classroom and reading textbook after textbook, but it can also come from people and working within a community. Bridgewater College believes that a person develops from their community involvement, because hands on learning can be more impactful than any other kind. During my four years of college I have completed many service related activities within my community. Most of my service learning has been in elementary schools, because this is where I know I can help. In high school and even in college I have had a tough time deciding if I wanted to teach classroom education or art education in schools, because I have always had a passion for art. In high school I spent hours working on various art projects and was always drawing or painting. However, in the last four years of college I have not touched a pencil or paintbrush due school and work. The only times I have been able to complete any art projects has been in elementary schools where I am volunteering. Most of the time the students faces are my canvas. I have always enjoyed painting faces, I love watching the students snicker and smile because the paintbrush tickles on

their face. The students also come up with the most interesting things they wanted painted on their faces (which most of the time I do not do, because I do not know what it is). Other times schools will find out that I have started learning to draw caricatures. This is extremely popular among parents, because they always want to have a memory of what their child looked like at that time in cartoonish way. Once at Riverbend Elementary School I started drawing caricatures half an hour before the art night began and stayed a half an hour after the art night was over just to finish drawing all the students in line. This is something I truly enjoying volunteering to do, because it is not something that everyone can do. I think students need to get to enjoy art, because it is such an important piece of their education and yet it is becoming less important in schools, because it is a class that cannot be measured like math or social studies. I have also spent the past four years volunteering at Elkton Elementary school not only during their art night and spring flings, but for the second grade teachers. Each year at Elkton Elementary School the second grade classes put on the Christmas play. The students will perform their play in front of the whole student body and staff, but also in front of their parents and the Elkton Community. The second grade teachers do not have the time to teach their students, rehearse the play, create the plays costumes and the plays set. So, I have spent the past five years (four years in college and my senior year of high school) creating the set for the play. I have drawn warm cozy houses, elf workshops, penguin paradises, and this past year the North Pole with an asteroid that is terrorizing it. Through my education classes at Bridgewater College I know how difficult it is being a teacher, so I know that the second grade teachers do not have time to create a background for the set. This is a way that I can help them using a talent that I have, so then that way they will have more time to teach their students and have them practice for the play.

My community involvement did not stop at helping in elementary schools, but was broaden in my freshman year. I have spent all of my life competing in beauty pageants. I have always loved getting dressed up with my hair and makeup done wearing beautiful gowns and feeling like a princess. I have always loved pageants, but knew that I would only ever compete at the local level due to how expensive pageants get at the state and national level. In the summer of 2010, I competed in the Miss Bergton Community Fair beauty pageant. It is a very small local pageant that I have been competing in since I was six months old. That summer I won the title of Miss Bergton Community Fair. Immediately after winning the pageant director asked me if I was interested in competing in the state fair pageant. I was nervous about the expense, so I was apprehensive to say yes until she told me they would pay my entry fee. I knew this would be my only chance to compete in a pageant of this magnitude so I agreed Id do it. I spent months preparing for the pageant, I even gave up the money I had saved up for a new car and spent it on a new dress. The state pageant was held at the Homestead Hotel in Hotsprings, Virginia. As soon as I got to the hotel I saw girls who would be my competitors from other counties around the state. I felt so out of place, because these girls were some of the most beautiful girls I had ever seen. We spent Friday and Saturday learning a dance routine and spent hours attending different events around the hotel. On Saturday morning each girl had a private five minute interview with the panel of judges. At the Virginia Association of Fairs pageant interview counts for fifty percent of the overall score, so I knew I had to be on my A game when I went into the room. I left the interview unsure of the outcome and how I did. We were then sent to a luncheon with the judges where they were able to talk with us in small groups more. During the luncheon I realized how different I was from all of the other girls. Many of them came from affluent families and had

never worked on a farm. Whereas I have grown up playing in dirt and cow poop thinking this was normal and spending summers camping with all of my cousins. Then when we went to our dance rehearsal, I noticed other differences that I had never seen before among pageant girls. Two of the queens got into a fight and one girl from Washington County pushed the girl from Warren County off the stage. I knew then the only friend I had at that pageant was my mother. On Sunday morning the pageant went underway. We performed a dance routine, had an outfit of choice category, gave a small speech about our county, and then walked in our evening gowns. When I went to the pageant my only goal was to make it into the top ten, which seemed almost impossible judging at how beautiful these girls were, but my dream came true. I was announced in the top ten and I was completely amazed. The girls who made it into the top ten were then asked an on stage question which would be added to their final score and would then help determine the final order of the pageant. I was asked, If you could be on the cover of any magazine what would it be and why? Of course I answered, Well Id want to be on the cover of one of my daddys hunting magazines. I love to hunt and it is such a big part of my familys heritage as well as a part of my community. The judges and the crowd all laughed, because who would have guessed a pageant girl would want to be on the cover of magazines like Fowl Cry instead of Vogue. After the questions were tabulated it was time for the crowning ceremony. I never even thought that I could be in the top ten more or less place, so I knew no matter the outcome I would be proud of how far I had made it. Then they announced fourth runner up: Miss South Central County Fair, then third runner up: Miss Page Valley Fair, then second runner up: Miss Shenandoah County Fair and then first runner up: Miss Lee County Fair. My jaw dropped. Miss Lee County Fair was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen and she knew it too. She had long white blonde hair, long tan legs that stretched for miles; she was everything a

Barbie doll should look like, yet better. I was astonished how could she not win? All that ran through my mind was who then Miss Kentucky-Virginia County Fair or Miss Fauquier County Fair who? The new Miss Virginia Association of Fairs 2011 is.Miss Bergton Community Fair, Katie Grace Yankey! Me. Me. How could it be me? I was the first girl to ever compete in the pageant from Bergton and the first girl to ever win from Rockingham County. How me? I went on to realize my interview score was one point from being perfect. A perfect score was 200 and I had a 199. The judges later told me it was my innocence and country charm that reminded them that natural beauty is more important than anything. I spent the next year traveling from fair to fair. I judged my first beauty pageant ever and realized how hard it was to judge someone on their physical features. I was also able to judge a pageant with Miss Virginia and met many past Miss Virginias. I was able to stay in hotel suites and eat lobster on the bay. During the middle of my reign I was asked by a Rockingham County Fair 4-H leader if I would volunteer to do the Kiss the Cow contest at the fair. I of course agreed. The Kiss the Cow contest is a local event where certain members of the community spend two months raising money for the American Cancer Society the winner has to kiss a cow at the fair that is televised. A close friend of my fiancs had just passed away from her fifth battle with breast cancer, so I knew I had to do everything I could to raise the money and I was determined to win. That year I raised $1,393.14 for the American Cancer Society and had to kiss a beautiful cow with red lipstick all over her face. I was also able to meet many different country celebrities such as: Chris Young, Luke Bryan, Lee Brice, Sammie Curshaw, Joe Diffie, and Aaron Tippin. I was then asked if I would give the morning invocation at the Governors Breakfast at the Virginia State Fair. I agreed immediately, but felt very nervous about having to give the morning prayer in front of the governor. I was so scared and did not want to mess up in

front of Governor McDonnell and thankfully I did not. After the breakfast I was able to speak with the governor and received the compliment that was a great public speaker, which is a huge ego boost for a small town girl. That year was one of the greatest years of my life. I never knew what it meant to bring inspiration to my community until then. Anytime I went anywhere in Fulks Run or Bergton, I was always told how proud everyone was of me for bringing light to our small community and that was probably the best feeling of all. After I gave up my title in 2012, I decided I did not want to compete in pageants anymore. I continued to judge pageants, but had lost interest in competing due to some of the negative things I experienced at the state pageant as well as some of the people I met over the year. During the summer of 2013, I received a message that the cheerleading coach at Broadway High School (my old high school) was quitting. Once I heard I decided to apply, because I remembered how much cheerleading meant to me in high school. After about a month, I heard the news that I had received the job and would be able to start in July. I cannot even explain how nervous I was the first day I held a practice and it did not go as planned either. The old coach had not worked with any of the students on conditioning, so it was a big shock to them when I made them run and run and run. The practices got better and I even recruited an assistant coach to help me make decisions on whom to pick for the team. Tryouts came and went and I had truly built the best team possible. The season was filled with ups and downs as the girls tried to gain our respect and the assistant and myself tried to gain their respect. There were many practices at the beginning of the season full of tears, until one day we all just clicked. Practices seemed to be going better and the girls seemed to trust us more, and then we had our first competition. I thought I had been nervous in high school when I went to competitions to

compete, but could not imagine how coaching was even more nerve racking. I could not even comprehend what was going on during my college classes that day, because I was so nervous for my girls. The competition was held at East Rockingham High School and I could feel the nerves and tension among everyone of my girls. During warm ups we watched all of the other teams and none of them impressed us. When it was our turn to warm up, I felt all the other teams staring at us, because my girls were on. We were the only team to not drop or mess up anything in warm ups and I knew after warm ups we were the team to beat. That was not how it ended up though. Nerves got the better of my girls and when they got on the mat it was not my team that I was used too. My girls had almost twenty points in deductions. The girls came off the mat crying and I told myself at that moment I did not want them to ever feel that way again. They all looked at me ready for me to yell, but I couldnt. No matter the outcome I was still proud of them. I just knew we had to do better next time. We went back to practice the next day and as a team we were ready to put in more effort than ever before and we all did. Their next competition was a week later and in this competition they placed third. This was still not up the par I thought they could achieve, so we worked harder and harder. All the while we worked harder the closer we all got as a team and eventually our own cheer family. The day had come for the big District Competition. The girls would be competing against their rivals, Harrisonburg who had beaten them in every competition for the past two years. We went out for our first round competition and the girls gave it a hundred and ten percent and then some more. I had never seen my girls compete that way, however Harrisonburg did good too. After first round score were tabulated they announced the top four teams who would compete in the second round which would determine the final order. Our ladies made it into the second round! The assistant and I were able to see the scores from the

first round and we were astonished. They were the highest scores the girls had ever received. Second round came and it was our time to perform. We knew mentally that it was between us and Harrisonburg. My girls came out second round with a fire that they had never had before. You could see in their eyes how badly they wanted to win. The music started.and I cried they gave a perfect performance. Then it was Harrisonburgs turn. Something happened and their whole routine fell apart. Deduction, deduction, deduction, I just kept counting more and more falls. The moment we had waiting for had come and it was time to announce the winners. Spotswood High School in fourth place. Harrisonburg High School in third place. Yes! We knew at that point we had beaten them, but what about Lee. They had beaten us before and we were not sure if they beaten us now or not. In second place, R.E. Lee High School. We all erupted and no girl or coach on our team had a dry eye. All the hard work, tears, blood, and sweat we had shed together had officially paid off. We were the 2013 Valley District Cheerleading Champions. The girls went on the next weekend to compete in the Conference 29 Championship, which was a regional qualifying competition. Again they were victorious and were the 2013 Conference 29 Champions. They went on the next weekend to the Region 3A West Competition were they received sixth, which would not advance them to the state competition. Even though our season ended that day no one was upset. We had set out to be the team to beat and we were. Being the cheerleading coach taught me more than what I ever expected. I learned how to be a coach and a leader. I learned how to not show when I am upset or nervous, because a leader can never show fear. I learned that I had found a true friend in my assistant coach, Shana,

which is something I have not had since high school. I learned that the Broadway community as a whole loves their students and puts so much emphasis on their success, especially when you are coaching a successful team. Every day someone new congratulated me or offered any kind of support they could to help my girls. I learned that Broadway is the best community to coach for. Most importantly I learned how much each of those girls meant to me. They had all touched my life in a way I had never expected. Each girl had her own story of tragedies and hardships and it surprised me how resilient they could be. Before I had started coaching I felt my life had no purpose. I had become so overwhelmed and drowned in the depression I had gained from being a full time college student as well as trying to work almost full time. I had lost touch with my family and my fianc, because I was never home and when I was home was so consumed with homework. When I became the cheerleading coach, I realized I had conquered a dream. One of the main reasons why I want to be a teacher is because I want to make a difference in other peoples lives. During college I had never had this opportunity and I felt like if I died tomorrow I would never have had to chance to do this. Coaching cheerleading gave me this. I had loved each one of these girls more than what any one person should. They saved me from hating myself and the life I was living. Coaching these ladies gave me a purpose for living, because I was not coaching because I loved cheerleading. I was now coaching because I loved these talented wonderful young women. During college I learned more from my community involvement than what I had from my college classes. I truly believe that real life experiences have a larger impact on our lives than what sitting in front of a computer screen do. Life is something we make, not something you can read about. It is the goals we want to achieve and we have to work for. The hours I have volunteered in elementary schools, the money I raised for the American Cancer Society, and the

dream team cheerleading squad I had all have changed me and have turned me into a much better person. My community involvement during college has had a much greater impact on my life and has grown and developed more than what my ethical and spiritual self has. Before coming to Bridgewater College I had developed a deep relationship with God and had finally considered myself a religious person. My parents never forced religion on me; instead they allowed me to find God on my own. When I was 16 I truly believe I allowed Jesus into my life. However, college took that relationship away from me. Church has become something I wish I could attend, but am not able too. I am a commuter student, so driving to Bridgewater five days a week from where I live becomes extremely expensive. If I want to come to class then I have to have the money to put gas into my car, so I work every weekend all weekend as well as three or four days during the school week. With this kind of a schedule church is impossible to attend, and without religious guidance and a worn down attitude my relationship with Christ has diminished. The loss of this relationship with God was made apparent my sophomore year of college. My grandmother became very ill in the summer. She spent time in and out of the hospital and then once the fall semester started she went into Bridgewater Occupational Rehabilitation Center. Even though she did not like living her for the month that she did I was enjoyed it. I was able to take her lunch every day and eat it with her. It was a wonderful opportunity to get to be with her. She supported me fully on my goal of becoming a teacher and pushed me to keep studying and learning. My grandmother eventually was able to leave the Rehab center and started living with my uncle in Dayton, Virginia. I was still able to see her on a daily basis even though she had moved a little furtherer away from college. My grandmother had always been a

religious woman. She truly and deeply believed in God and lived how she interpreted a Christian life style. She always did her best to be fair to everyone and love each person as a family member. When I told my grandmother I had found Christ, she was so excited. My grandmother and I spoke frequently about any religious related questions that I may have had, because I knew she would give me an honest answer. Then in December, my grandmother became very ill again. She spent two days in intensive care and was eventually sent back to Bridgewater Rehab Center, where she told my mother that she knew she would never leave. On my birthday I received a call that my grandmother was getting even worse. I went immediately to see her. That was the last day she knew who I was. I went to see her three days later and I have never seen a worse sight. I was in disbelief that God would let a woman suffer they way he did her. All my grandmother wanted to do was pass and he made her lay in that bed moaning and groaning in agony. My mother has always told me dying was hard work and I could truly tell it was that day. There are moments I wished I had never seen her like that, because that image of her is forever dinted into my head. On December 23, 2011 at 3:15 p.m. we received the call that she had passed away. That Christmas didnt seem real. That whole break was a blur. I had lost one of my biggest supporters. When I went back to school that spring semester I knew I was falling behind, because I was so consumed with the anger I had pent up towards God for making her suffer. To this day I am saddened at the loss of my grandmother. I have not been able to regain my relationship with God, but I am beginning to want that relationship I once had with God back again. This past semester I took Topics of Religion and Philosophy 300 with Dr. Yordy. For the religion portion of that class I had to attend a church that was different from the one I was used too. I found Christ in a Baptist Church when I was in

high school, so I decided to attend a friend of mines fathers church for the project. I attended the Life Church in Broadway, Virginia which is headed by Brian Gillispie. Getting to go to that church for this project showed me how much I have missed God. The church was different from Harrisonburg Baptist (the church I used to always attend). Brian Gillispie did not really preach to you. He spoke to you as a friend. He made God real and brought his teachings into a new fresh light. After that day I knew I needed to attend church again and try and rebuild that relationship I had lost due to the death of my grandmother. However, that relationship is still in the process of growing. My schedule still has not changed. I still go to college five days a week and work almost seven days a week. I look forward to graduating from college and having that relationship with God, so I just hope he understands why I have been absent for the past three years. Over the past four years religion has not been an area where I have had a solid growth. I have been tested in my relationship with Christ and realized through a college assignment how much I missed God. Now I am just waiting until I graduate, so that my life can be less hectic and open for religion. However, I did grow in Bridgewaters final dimension of growth,

emotional and physical maturation. I have noticed before college I lived a health active lifestyle. In the past four years I have barely had time to sleep. I drive to class five days a week almost an hour one way. I then work seven days a week trying to pay for the driving I do five days a week. Between all of the running I barely find time to do homework, so truly I do not have time to exercise or participate in activities outside of class and work, because my free time is spent in front of a computer screen writing papers such as these. This has led to my emotional growth and knowledge of who I am as a person.

College has not been the easiest on me. I have spent most of the past four years by myself and have learned how to only depend on me. I have missed seeing my family and my fianc and just getting to be around loved ones. College has been tough on me and has pushed me harder than what I thought I could ever be pushed. There have many many many times that I have thought about quitting, and still to this day I wonder if I made the right decision to give up seeing my family and friends for college. For me college was not a time when I stayed up late chatting with the girls in my dorm room or drinking too much alcohol on the weekends. I never had the chance to participate in college activities or be a part of any sort of extra-curricular activities. Instead the past four years have taught me other lessons. My first year of college, I worked for Estee Lauder Cosmetics at the Belk department store in Harrisonburg. This was an awful job experience. I was constantly receiving pressure to sell, sell, sell and reminded that work was more important than me going to college. The boss I worked for was never supportive and always trying to find ways to get his employees in trouble. I had a co-worker there who enjoyed harassing everyone and did anything she could to get myself and other employees to quit. I was so grateful when a year and a half later I started working for Francescos Italian Restaurant in Broadway. I started out struggling, because I had never waitressed before, but slowly I learned. This job allowed me to work with people my own age who were mostly in college and supported each other on our school ambitions. Working at Francescos allows me to know most of the people in the town of Broadway and you always hear about the latest gossip. It is a very relaxing work environment. I am not going to say that it is always an easy job. There have been many nights when parents let their children run wild yelling and screaming or some guy gets to drunk at the bar. I have experienced bar fights and harassments and many many crazy people, but it has become my home over the past two and a half years. Even the days that I

had to work with the flu, fevers, and received the third degree burns that will be forever scarred on my arm from the oven, I will always love that restaurant. I know working there made me miss out on many college related activities, but it was worth it. Working throughout college has forced me to grow and made me realize how immature peers my own age may be. I believe that this has made me a stronger person and will benefit me in the future. The strength that I gained came through and helped me many times with college. I learned how tough I was and even faced one of my darkest secrets. In Dr. Trupes, Teaching Writing class we were paired into Writing Circle groups. Each class we picked a new topic to write about and we read each piece out loud to our groups. Over the course of the Writing Circles my group became very close. Most of us were friends from other classes, so it was easy for us to feel comfortable reading things out loud to each other. One week we picked the topic to write about a secret that we probably did not know about each other. This was a very emotional class for our group, because we all shared things that were very personal. I wrote a paper, Secrets are Secrets for a Reason. It was one of the toughest and fastest papers I have ever written. The point of the paper is to tell about a situation that happened to me when I was 15 without giving any details of what really happened. I only wrote about this instance once before in high school. A teacher of mine encouraged me to write about it as a way of therapy and I thought it really helped me then, so I decided to write about it again. After many tears and tissues I read the paper to my group. Once I had finished reading it no one in the group said anything, because there is nothing to say after reading it. I noticed then that I had received several text messages. They were from my group members sending me private text messages with words of encouragement about sharing my story. I then noticed that two of the messages were much different. These two girls both immediately opened up to me about similar situations

they had endured. They both opened up to me about their stories and I was able to provide them with support in knowing that they were not alone. Out of every day I spent at Bridgewater that day was the one I felt the most empowered. I had spent so many years being frightened of a past story, and once I told I felt like I had done the right thing. In that moment I had grown more than what I ever thought I could. I had developed strength in myself for not being scared to share one of the most personal stories of my life. To this day I have not told anyone else, but I have considered doing so and trying to find new ways to support young women who went through what I did. However, I still have not grown enough to do that, but that small simple feet was a huge jump for me in that day. In all the ways that I have developed at Bridgewater my future career goal has never changed. I have known since I was thirteen that I had to be a teacher. It is the only profession that I can ever see myself doing. I love children, but more importantly I love teaching. Throughout my time at BC I have learned somewhat how to be a teacher, but it is not a profession you can learn from sitting in a classroom. This is why I am so excited to be starting my student teaching experience. I know that this will teach me more in sixteen weeks than everything I have learned at Bridgewater combined. I think the biggest preparation I have had for student teaching has come from coaching cheerleading. Even though I am teaching high schoolers and not elementary aged students and I am teaching them a sport not academics; I still feel that this job has given me the biggest prep. It reminded me of why I want to be a teacher and kept me going through one of my hardest semesters in college. If it werent for all the life lessons these young ladies taught me, I dont know if I would be ready to teach or even still wanting to teach.

After graduation I not only plan to seek a teaching job, I plan to get married to my best friend and fianc. He has stood by me the past five and a half years even with all the stress and distance college has created between us. There have been times I have noticed him wanting to give up on me due to the pressure college has put on us, but he still hasnt left. He is the one who kept me going and encouraging me and reminding me of how badly I want to teach and need to teach. I cannot wait until the day that I can marry him and get to spend time with him. I never knew how much he meant to me until I never got to see him during the past four years. College taught me that the relationships you have with people are so important and they truly are the greatest things in life. My life with my fianc will hopefully be simple. I have never wanted to be famous or have millions of dollars. I have only wanted to have enough to get by and maybe a little extra. I hope to one day become a parent and experience one of lifes greatest gifts. I hope to spend more time with my mother. She is one of the greatest women I have ever known and truly is my best friend. I want to one day be able to travel with her and hope that she is able to live long enough to see my children. My future goals are simple. They are not extravagant and may seem too many that I am not aiming very high, but I have learned from my experience at college how special those simple daily things are. I used to think I wanted to get my masters degree and even my doctorates degree in administration and possibly become a principal. I learned though that college is not where I want to spend my life. I am tired of college and meaningless classes. I am tired of being treated like a child and not an adult. I am tired of being alone and being trapped behind a keyboard. I have come to the point in my life that through all the struggles college has created as well as the learning experiences, I am ready to live my life instead of day dreaming about it.