Visits and Clarity

2 visits, 1 path that is now clear to me

I've been living and working in the Delta since June 8th, 2010. I've visited a few people outside the Delta and entertained a few guests to help myself feel a little better when things get really stressful and I bog myself down somewhat unnecessarily. When My Dad and Diane visited two things started to change. My moodiness (which had been getting more frequent, and common for all first years) started to lift and I've realized how TFA fits my professional goals in addition to how it fits into my personal ideology. Allow me to elaborate...

Visit 1

Seeing a familiar face was nice. Seeing a familiar face that knows an incredible amount about me and how i function and can give some decent advice on life and stopping to breather was hugely helpful. I was proud to show off my school, new community, house, roommates and region to my Father and his girlfriend. I really do love a lot about this new place and I think now they do too! Plain and simple...mood was lifted by Dad's visit and a break from the grindstone.

Visit 2

This weekend I visited Syracuse. To keep things short and sweet...it was amazing to spend so much time with the ones I love and spent so much time with during college. Sam always makes my heart happy. McQueen is hilarious and tells awesome stories. Rita is my fireball and I adore her to no end. Alex, although we had only a short chat is always so encouraging and genuinely curious about new things, so sharing was a pleasure with him. Ginge and Aja...you are my loves and I appreciate all y'all do for Monkey when I'm not around :)

Clarity

When I applied to TFA and joined TFA and am asked about TFA my reason for being a part of this hugely important movement is the same. I want to be part of the people and communities that work toward getting rid of the achievement gap because i want my fellow citizens to have the same opportunities and sense of self worth and value instilled in them that i was so lucky to have given to me as a student. This is a service opportunity in my mind. I am giving back to my country in a way that I am highly skilled and quite passionate. Yes, this is a job, but this is also a learning experience for me too. Whether or not i agree with every minute detail of the TFA organization is neither here nor there...what matters is that I believe in the end goal and the foundational message. One day, all children...will be given equal access to education. Right now, that's not the case in this country. For our country to be as great as it can truly be...we must educate our children so that they may compete with leaders and competitive students across the globe. I am happy and proud to be a part of making this change...this is why, for personal reasons I've chosen to join TFA.

Professionally, I've been struggling to find a connection between this job and the career path I had in mind for myself throughout and after college. Now...clarity! I want to finish my 2 years with TFA and head myself into graduate school immediately. I want to pursue a Masters in Public Policy or Public Administration because I want to create change by fixing the internal system in the United States. I believe that we need across the board national education standards for every grade level in every subject. This is just the tip of the iceberg...but needless to say, I want to be on the inside making laws and policy that helps our children. They are our future. We are only as strong as our educated youth.

With that, I will leave you and simply say thank you to all my visitors and to my loves for helping to cheer me and helping to break me away from my gloom enough for me to find this beautiful sense of self and purpose.