[These pictures are from the going away party my friend’s and family threw me. I really am so grateful to have such supportive, amazing people in my life.]

I have been struggling with leaving my family and friends. I know I’m not going forever, but they are my support system. My comfort. And the last few days were exactly what I needed. It’s not that I’m not excited to leave. Trust me, I am beyond excited. But it’s the people that I have to leave that make it so hard. The people that have watched you grow up, the one’s who have watched you fail and succeed, the one’s who love you no matter what. Hearing them say so many nice things, but most importantly, that they believed in me, that was exactly what I needed.

As I sat in the kitchen talking to my cousin about what I was getting my doctorate in I suddenly felt a wave of excitement come over me. Here is something I’ve always wanted to do and now I was getting to do it. I had always preached to my students about how important the things I was trying to teach them were. But it isn’t emphasized enough… life skills, helping with finances, resumes, interviewing, etiquette and experiential education. Schools have 18 years to give students this. To give students the skills and tools necessary to find their own way, to be their own success story. But I was finding that so many people graduating, in their 20’s and my age were still having a hard time. It isn’t easy knowing what you’re supposed to do. But maybe I could help…

Was it scary? Yes. Was it risky? Yes. But it was something I knew I was meant to do. The education system is a mess. Trust me, I don’t think I can just fix that. But, I think everyone needs to be stood up for in some way. And while my family and friends show how much they stand up for me and my dreams, I want to be that for someone else… I want to be that for my 10 year old sister, and my best friend’s 4 month old daughter Ava, and all of my students, and every kid who deserves better than to have all the potential in the world and not be given a fair chance to use it.

And maybe going back to school wouldn’t give me all the answers. But, it would give me the time to do plenty of research though, and time to find out how to turn this all around. It’d be nice to see people have faith that us teachers are doing our job, that a lot of times it’s something much bigger than us. Just like my brother who just got back from Afghanistan. He was just a soldier fighting in a war, really just a messenger of sorts. And so are us teachers. We’re there to get a message across and hope that somehow resonates with the students we meet along the way. This is how I look at it, and I truly believe this… “While my brother and all of our brave service men and women fight for our freedom, us teachers are fighting for our future.”