Stacy's Story!

I think I have always wanted to be a teacher and didn't really know it. I specifically remember being in fourth grade and thinking "I love the way my teacher did that, I want to teach like her!" and then in fifth grade thinking, " I would never do that to my students! I have to make sure I do that differently!" I had no idea at twelve years old that I had a desire to be a teacher, but when I think back there were "warning signs" along the way.  I went through many aspirations of what I wanted to be when I grew up; I recently found an essay I wrote my freshman year of high school and I wanted to be a pediatrician. Well, that dream died hard when I couldn't live up to the math and science aspects of the medical profession and throughout high school I never even gave much of a thought of what I would be; in the back of my mind however, it was always with kids.

I don't know the exact moment I decided to teach, but it just felt right. I had no experience with children other than baby-sitting, and for some reason my senior year of high school I felt compelled to go into elementary education. I started my teaching journey at OSU and after my first practicum in a second grade classroom I was hooked. From then on I worked in three other practicums and a term as a preschool teacher at a Head Start preschool on the Oregon State campus ( same pre-school as Anne and Kyle). Although my experience there was less than desirable, it not only solidified my desire to become a teacher, it fostered in me the need to be an advocate for my students. During that time was when I discovered Lewis and Clark, and it felt like the place I needed to be to grow as not only a teacher, but a place where I could develop the skills and knowledge to actually become that advocate. I feel like my passion grows more and more with every experience I have with children, and now even more in this program.

My story is not one of self-discovery or of wanting to go into a profession to be an agent of change in the world, but throughout my journey of becoming a teacher that is exactly what I have become. I don't know what compelled me to be a teacher, I only knew that I wanted a job with children and one that I was excited to get up for, I feel like there was never any other profession for me and somehow I have been drawn into it. I am so happy I was! I now know who I am and why I am in this profession, and I cannot imagine anything different for my life.