How Will I Impact The World?

As my undergraduate days come to an end the question now comes to play, how will I use my education and experiences to impact the world around me? I believe that in my years at George Mason University I have gained the skills and understanding to help not only my local community, but those communities which are a few miles to thousands of miles away from me. ​

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I began college with a plan. A plan to become an elementary school teacher and have a family one day. My plan was very simple at first and has now developed into a more complicated and detailed plan. I come from a family of educators so becoming a teacher seemed the natural path, that was until I came to college.

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Entering college I became too busy with sorority events, going to classes, and working to volunteer in the elementary schools around me. For years, before entering college, I had worked with students during the summers and after school, but now I was too busy for that. The longer I stayed out of the elementary schools the more I began to doubt if that was really what I wanted to do. Was it really my dream or was it my families dream for me? It began to feel like I may have chosen education, because it was my comfort zone.

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Having spent almost three years of my college career working towards and Integrative Studies Degree with a Concentration in Elementary Education I knew I needed to make certain that I was following the right path for me. I created my own internship for the spring of 2012 and worked as an assistant in a fourth grade classroom of a Title 1 school three days a week. I instantly fell back in love with teaching. Not only did I fall back in love, but I was more certain then I had ever been that this was the job for me. By the end I was upset having to say goodbye to my students and realized that I wanted to work in Title 1 or other at needs schools. I now know that I not only want to teach to educate students, but to make a difference in their lives. I want my students to build not only in their skills, but in their character and self-image as well.

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Fast forward to fall of 2012 and I thought I had it all figured out. Now I knew that teaching was the only job for me, but unknowingly there was more to come. At the urge from two of my friends I attended Invisible Children's MoveDC event. I sat for several hours listening to world leaders and people affected by the LRA. We then took to the streets of DC to march in effort to show our support of U.S. aid in Middle and East Africa to stop the LRA and its leader Joseph Kony.

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Before the event I thought it was a good cause and thats why I agreed to attend with my friends, but during the event I realized that I had the potential to do so much more than just teach in the United States. That I could help not only people here, but people in other countries as well. Since that event I have begun to actively seek for more ways and programs to join to help others all around the world. MoveDC gave me the additional motivation to earn my teaching license so that I can work in schools abroad during the summers and help communities in other areas.

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My college education and experiences have helped develop me from a teenager with a simple idea and plan to a young adult who plans to do so much more with her life. Four days after I graduate this May I will be beginning my year long Masters and Teaching Licensure Program at Marymount University.  Following that I plan to search for Title 1 and other at needs schools to work at. I want to start saving for summer trips to other countries and high needs areas in the United States to help in building and educating their communities. I could easily use my summers to relaxing, but have found my passions have driven me to using the time I have to help others and try to give children a better future.

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The Final Decision

During my sophomore and junior year I slowly began to doubt if teaching was the right profession for me. I had so many different interests and hadn't worked closely with students since I had left high school. Did I really want to be a teacher? Or was it just something I was just pushed towards because of the long line of teachers in my family? I created my own internship and through it found my passion for teaching again. I now knew that I wanted to be a teacher for myself. It was what I was passionate about and therefore would work hard to become the best teacher I could, no matter what. My final reflection on my experience demonstrates my rediscovery of my love for teaching and how I worked to start achieving my goal.