A Love For School
In my younger years, I was one of the few kids to absolutely love school. You could say I was definitely the “teacher’s pet.” I found learning new things to be so fun and was fascinated by all my teachers and how much they knew. While most kids dreaded the summer months coming to an end, I couldn’t wait to go to the store and pick out my school supplies, go to meet the teacher night and pick out my first day of school outfit. I loved the excitement of riding the school bus, meeting new friends on the playground and getting to tell my family all about what I learned that day. To this day, my dad still asks me every day, “Did you learn anything today Aud?” Unfortunately he only has a couple more months of saying that to me as my time in school comes to an end.
Because of my love for all things school, and appreciating how much my teacher’s cared about us, I thought I would grow up and be a teacher. Coming from a family of teachers, this was not out of reach for me. All my life my older sister Megan was my role model. With her being eight years older than me, I always felt myself wanting to follow in her footsteps because she was so much older, wiser and cooler. When Megan decided that she wanted to be a teacher and went off to college to do so, I thought I had to do exactly the same when I was older.
When my friends would come over for play-dates we would always play “school.” I would be the teacher and the others would be the students. My parents even invested in our imaginations and bought us a small little play desk. We would steal paper, whiteboards and pens from my dad’s home office and use them to scribble down things and pretend it was homework. I also distinctly remember a day of elementary school where we had to dress up as what we wanted to be when we grew up. My mom let me borrow a pair of old glasses, found a lanyard and whistle, and I dressed as a teacher.
As I grew up into my middle school and high school years, my love for school seemed to fade. I still found excitement in the first day of school and what teachers I was going to get, but much preferred the social side of it. I guess that comes with age for most. As the subjects got harder and my interests began to change, so did my views on being a teacher.
I watched my sister become the most amazing special education teacher, saw the countless hours she put into her students, and the little appreciation she got back. I saw my high school teacher’s put their whole heart and soul into their curriculum to just have students like me begin to not care as much. It wasn’t the teacher’s that made me not want to become one, but more the students and thought of being in a school for the rest of my life, doing the same things each year.
I realized as I got older that I am very easily bored with things. I learned I needed to choose a career path where each day would be new and exciting. I didn’t know what path this would be but I knew one day I’d find it.
Throughout my older high school years my parents would always get annoyed with how much I was online. I would constantly be on social media platforms and reading up on the latest news in the digital world. It wasn’t until my senior year that I learned there were actually careers that I could do with these interests of mine. I spent most of this year researching colleges and what kind of media majors they offered and looked up what careers you could have with each major. It wasn’t until late my senior year when I attended a session from The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism that I found where my heart belonged.
After hearing about the amazing paths Walter Cronkite offered I was sold. They really had a path for everyone interested in the media world. I found it so cool that I could actually do social media and marketing as a career and take my passions into my job.
The following year I started my college career at Walter Cronkite. I had a plethora of classes that helped me to learn all sides of media, written and broadcast. I began to feel more confident in my abilities and my career path.
Four years later, I’m sitting here about to graduate from The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. I’ve held two internships in social media and public relations, and taken all the classes to prepare me for the outside world. Although, I do not have a job lined up quite yet, I feel prepared enough to go out and get one.
It is crazy to think that phrase “when I grow up” is now. I am grown up, and I know what I want to do. My career path sure has changed from what I thought I would be in my younger days.
