Learning is a journey. We embark with the excitement of the unknown fueling our steps and the certainty of discovery feeding our souls. Each day gifts us the opportunity to learn, to develop, and to contribute to the mountain of collective knowledge. What is done with that opportunity is up to the individual. Let us seek growth, connection, and creative approaches to engaging self, others, and the world in which we explore.
A Beginning and No Ending
I have always recognized myself as a student. As a child, I would read nearly every book that I could manage to get my hands on (save books with settings of snow or the ocean). I journaled, I researched, I explored. I lifted rocks and branches off the ground to see what life scuttled and squirmed beneath. I wanted to try new foods, new activities. I wanted to see new places. I am still that same person, that child wandering around searching for understanding. Now, when people ask what I do, I say, "I'm a lifetime student."
This answer is an absolute truth, and I very rarely need to explain. If I needed to detail why I consider myself a lifetime student, it might be rather boring for the listener (and, quite possibly, overwhelming to me). I received my first undergraduate degree from the University of Mary Washington in English. During that time I also earned a "concentration" in Sociology. At the time, UMW was not awarding minor degrees -- though now, I should fight for that honor! HA! After graduating, I explored various other avenues of education. I learned how to make chocolate and San Diego. I started training and practicing amateur trapeze and aerial circus arts from San Diego to San Francisco. I studied Japanese and French on the West Coast. I even spent a summer hands-on and brains-on learning organic farming on a 150-acre retreat in Australia. I took my education on the road: traveling to the Aztec Ruins in Mexico, meandering through art museums and artifacts throughout Italy, losing myself in the snow covered alleys of Prague, caffeinating in Austria, exploring the true melting pot that is Dubai, and wandering/wondering about the beauty that is Petra. I see my life as an educational opportunity.
Now, I find myself back in the calm and lovely town of Fredericksburg. What am I doing? I am back in school. I am pursuing my second undergraduate degree--this time at the Virginia Commonwealth University and a double major in chemistry and biology. I am one class away from earning a graduate certificate in Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies and I am in the process of obtaining a Masters in Education from UMW. Yes, I have been brought full circle (many, many times) from student to teacher to student to teacher. I am perhaps--finally--getting to where I should have been from the beginning: I am certifying to teach, to enter a classroom and demonstrate, model, and inspire children to realize that their world, their each day is a learning opportunity and it is up to them to reach out and grasp that experience.
This answer is an absolute truth, and I very rarely need to explain. If I needed to detail why I consider myself a lifetime student, it might be rather boring for the listener (and, quite possibly, overwhelming to me). I received my first undergraduate degree from the University of Mary Washington in English. During that time I also earned a "concentration" in Sociology. At the time, UMW was not awarding minor degrees -- though now, I should fight for that honor! HA! After graduating, I explored various other avenues of education. I learned how to make chocolate and San Diego. I started training and practicing amateur trapeze and aerial circus arts from San Diego to San Francisco. I studied Japanese and French on the West Coast. I even spent a summer hands-on and brains-on learning organic farming on a 150-acre retreat in Australia. I took my education on the road: traveling to the Aztec Ruins in Mexico, meandering through art museums and artifacts throughout Italy, losing myself in the snow covered alleys of Prague, caffeinating in Austria, exploring the true melting pot that is Dubai, and wandering/wondering about the beauty that is Petra. I see my life as an educational opportunity.
Now, I find myself back in the calm and lovely town of Fredericksburg. What am I doing? I am back in school. I am pursuing my second undergraduate degree--this time at the Virginia Commonwealth University and a double major in chemistry and biology. I am one class away from earning a graduate certificate in Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies and I am in the process of obtaining a Masters in Education from UMW. Yes, I have been brought full circle (many, many times) from student to teacher to student to teacher. I am perhaps--finally--getting to where I should have been from the beginning: I am certifying to teach, to enter a classroom and demonstrate, model, and inspire children to realize that their world, their each day is a learning opportunity and it is up to them to reach out and grasp that experience.