Closed Doors Lead to Open Windows
"It took teaching to all but slap me in the face to make me realize - I love it."
Coming from a family of teachers I always swore I would never attempt to fill the massive shoes my parents have created in the USA Public Education System. I was so bound and determined to break the Bartz mold that it took teaching to all but slap me in the face to make me realize - I love it. The first person who believed I would make a good teacher was an ex- boyfriend, who (I loath to admit) called out my passion for the vocation two years before I ever considered it. However, after being given the opportunity to teach writing strategies at my university’s writing center, and a supplementary biology class I found myself tripping over the shoe strings my parents had warned me away from.
With wonderful mentors and the example of my parents to guide me I applied for TFA (Teach For America), which is an organization created to address the teacher shortage in impoverished areas around the United States. When I applied for the program I thought I had just applied for my future, so when rejection letter came via email to inform me I would not advance further into the candidacy pool, I was devastated. I remember crying on the couch of my college house and dreading calling my parents and admitting they were right, I wasn’t meant to be a teacher and I should have listened to them to begin with. However, when I finally dried my tears and called my parents I realized two things: I have a wonderful mother and father, and they believed in me, they just worry about the direction the education system is headed.
Over Christmas break I continued to lick my wounds and cling to the idea of becoming a teacher.
In the cold, dark winter days of December I dreamt of a warmer, friendlier place that might welcome a hopeful educator like me.
I have spent my whole life in a school building. When I was 2 weeks old I was attending pep assemblies dressed like a football. When I was 2 years old I was terrorizing whatever high school student my mother assigned to babysit me in her classroom while she had tennis practice. When I was 12 I was already dreaming of being my class’ valedictorian.
On July 2nd of 2022 I boarded a direct flight to Costa Rica with two suitcases and a lot of hope. In August of 2022 I joined the Speak More With Me and have never been so grateful for doors that slammed shut and opened windows with a Costa Rican skyline.
