The Story of Me...

The story of me huh? Aren't you guys tired of me yet? Oh well, gotta sit through it again.

Actually, I started my undergrad as a nursing major at Washington State University. I have always had a very strong desire to help people. While my grandmother was dying in the hospital with cancer it was a male nurse that really went above and beyond to make her last days special and as pleasant as possible. He made all the difference to her and my family and the impact he had was great. I thought, "I want to do that. I want to make a difference like that." My first semester into the sciences in college quickly changed my mind there. I just could not do endless memorization of chemistry and biology. I decided to go with more of the artistic side and kind of lost track of the helping people side and got my degree in Advertising with a minor in Fine art. It was fun and I enjoyed that and did well. From there, I did some odd jobs including blockbuster, door to door sales and bar tending on a cruise ship until I finally got a job in sales/marketing/advertising. I loved the product, but not the sales world. I found out after a couple years how much sales and corporate big business was not for me. I still had that strong desire to help and I felt so unfulfilled. I started to think more and more about teaching. As soon as I thought about it again, it just felt right in every way. Many of my aunts, uncles and grandparents were/are teachers. I guess it is just in my blood. So, there I was, I knew and everyone else around me knew I was supposed to be a teacher. As I read in "Dear Paulo," "I didn't have choice to be a teacher." It was just what I should be doing.

So, that was about four years ago. I knew that if I was to go into teaching I would have to go back to school and if I was to go back to school at this point I wanted to do it the best I could, and that meant Lewis and Clark. I just didn't have the credentials at the time to be able to get into L & C. So, I saw the option of teaching English overseas. I knew that it would be an amazing opportunity to get experience and what I needed to get into Lewis and Clark as well as an amazing opportunity to travel the world. How right I was about that. Over the last four years of teaching in Taiwan I was reassured how much I wanted to be a teacher and how right it felt for me. After over three years of teaching in Taiwan it was time to come back and start my schooling at Lewis and Clark. My experience in Taiwan got me into Lewis and Clark in the end as well. I can't image coming into this program without having the experience that I did. I think I would just be so lost and overwhelmed. I am super happy I did that.

Now I am the best Cohort in the world. I am so happy that everything has turned out the way it has. If I could go back I would do everything the exact same way. I am excited to come to school in the morning with each day throwing out new opportunities to get to know my new friends and learn more about what I know is for me. The path is clear and wide open now.