College has been a crazy amount of work but I have so enjoyed being a student. I wish I could be a professional student and make money off of that for the rest of my life, but alas, maybe being a teacher is the second best thing.
Yesterday we celebrated with Thai food (!!) for lunch and it was so delicious! So many people came to support me from both sides of my family, from Bailey’s family, and even Chanel and her husband came! I felt so loved and the food was of course delicious.
And then in the afternoon, I participated in the School of Education graduation ceremony with my friend Savannah! We were the only ones there with an art emphasis so we kind of mismatched everyone else and their blue tassels. We had fun and I didn’t even trip on the stage which for some reason was a worry to me (I don’t often wear heels).
I am so happy for all of it to be over! I mean, I loved school but I can’t wait to move on to the next step which is the job I signed papers for. In the fall I will be the art teacher at a new alternative high school. It is such a unique opportunity that I’m so excited for! I’m thrilled about teaching older students (mostly juniors and seniors) and having very small class sizes. Since it is a new school, I’ve been able to pick the classes I want to teach and will soon need to put together a classroom. It’s a little overwhelming but very exciting!
So yes, it feels time to close this chapter of my life. I’m so grateful for the opportunity I’ve had to earn an education. And to have had it paid for completely with scholarships was one of the greatest blessings of my life, because I haven’t had to work a full time job on top of school like so many students have to. To move on from my university with no student debt is something that I’m extremely grateful for.
Let me just end by praising my school which did not let me down! Utah Valley University only became a university about a decade ago. It is open enrollment, and because of these two things, some people don’t have high expectations for the quality of the school. But if you look at the success of our students and our programs, and the qualifications and overall quality of our faculty, it is easy to see that UVU is a really special place. The school emphasizes engaged learning which has made me so much more ready to enter my career. UVU is actually the only college that I applied for because I heard firsthand from many principals that they prefer hiring teachers with a UVU degree over any other universities in the area, because UVU students always seemed more prepared. Also the offer of free money helped haha.
Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that UVU seriously rocks. I loved that it was open enrollment because I believe that education should be accessible and an option for ANYONE who wants it. People were there because they truly wanted to be, and many of the best school friends I made were moms coming back to school after raising their kids. I loved having classmates from all walks of life and I feel like a much more well rounded person having had the opportunity to learn from them.
And learn I did! I learned so much from the amazing art and education programs, from all my peers, and from all of the influential professors I’ve had. Yesterday was an awesome day celebrating all of that!
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