Practice Blog

  I was born in Rome, Georgia in March of 1994.I lived in Georgia until I was seven. That Summer, my father got a job at Honda Manufacturing in Lincoln, Alabama, bringing my family to Birmingham, where I have lived for the past 11 years, until moving to Mobile to attend school. Originally, I was interested in becoming an occupational therapist, so where better to look into attending school than South Alabama? However, after a few queasy incidences at hospital internships, I soon realized the medical path was certainly not for me. I had already mentally committed to the idea of coming to Mobile, and I truly loved the atmosphere at South Alabama, so due to my change of heart over what my major would be, it didn’t change my decision on where I wanted to study.

  Now with the medical field out of the question, I decided that I was good with kids, so why not be an elementary education major? Once again, wrong. This was discovered when I had to do a mandatory class where I was to shadow third graders. This too, was certainly not for me. After a lot of talking to my parents, and some deep prayer, I decided that secondary education, with a dual major in English was the right route for me, and ever since making that change, I have loved my classes. I truly feel I am in the right place now. Some background on my family, my parents were relatively young when I was born, so for this reason I now have a seven year old sister, Abby, a five year old brother, Gage, and the cutest little two year old brother, Luke. It’s quite an age difference, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I will say though I don’t necessarily miss sharing a house with their craziness.

  I can honestly say that I feel I had the overall best high school experience. The teachers I had truly cared for not only how the students did, but the actual students themselves. I can think of three of my teachers who made the biggest impacts on my life, and they all just happen to be English teachers. I want to be able to do for someone, what those three women were able to do for me. That was to be an excellent role model and always having an open door, in order to guarantee a student’s success.

  In my opinion, a teacher’s job is not only to educate his or her students, but to be a positive influence for the students at all times. We may never truly understand someone’s home life, and for certain students, school may be viewed as somewhat as a sanctuary to them. In that case, it should be the educator’s job to insure the student always feels welcomed and protected while the student is within the care of the educator. This is not to say that the students should view the teacher in a parent-like or friend-like way, but it does mean that the teacher should take it upon him or herself that the student feels school is a place to be appreciated and pleased to be a part of.

  One of my biggest passions for years now has been volleyball. I am currently a coach at St. Paul’s Episcopal. Something I certainly want to get better at is making it a point to travel. I have only been out of the country a couple times, but one day, hopefully after graduating, I would like to take a big trip out of the country at least once a year.

  A few more interesting things about myself: I love Pinterest, not that anything I attempt to do really ever turns out like it’s supposed to, but that doesn’t take the fun out of trying it. I enjoy reading. Lastly, I would much rather have a lake house than a beach house. I’m not sure that necessarily qualifies as “interesting,” but it seems like everyone I mention that to is somewhat surprised, so I’ll say it’s something unique.