"It takes a certain type of [wom]an to teach" -Drake

     To the absolute astonishment of about every person I know I am going to college with the hopes of becoming a teacher. My major is English and my minor is in Secondary Education, yes I really do want to be a high school teacher.  I guess people were surprised with my choice because of my previous plans to move to Alaska and become a bear biologist as well as my intense distaste for children. However...because I coach a swim team 5 days a week I've steadily grown to love children.

     I don't think there is any better feeling than knowing you have taught a child something worthwhile.  Coaching in my opinion is synonymous with teaching.   I've had to learn how to balance making them better athletes, maintaining control through the use of disciplinary action while still making sure the children are always having fun.  My coaching job is not  an easy one and oftentimes  I refer to it as "a real grown person job" "I'm really too young to be feelin this old" -Drake

 Sometimes I wonder if anything will change once I become a teacher.... I guess I'll just have a new batch of kids in that I'll have to teach.

They called me tree

 

     It took me FOREVER to decide on an emblem mainly because I was reluctant to choose a tree knowing that so many of my classmates had done so as well. Finally I gave in and decided to go with a tree  because I could find no other emblem that fit me as perfectly.  Trees are know for their height as am I.  Like trees I am  brittle and inflexible  both literally and figuratively.  I am literally inflexible because of my stiffness which makes me unable to even reach down and touch my toes.  I sometimes think of myself as brittle because I get hurt so easily doing the most common things ie walking down stairs.  I consider myself inflexible also in the sense that I must always have my way on everything. Once I have made up my mind about something I am unwilling to budge no matter what.  Trees, with the exception of their leaves are brown and since I am bi-racial my skin is brown.  Actually back when I did High School swimming my teammates would call me tree because with my long brown body and the all green cap we had to wear, thats exactly what I looked like.

     Lastly I'd like to talk about the biggest and most important part of a tree, its roots. Trees never move they are stuck in one place for their entire lives.  I too like things constant and unchanging in my life and since the age of 3 have never lived outside of Columbia SC.  I have deep roots here in SC and though it sometimes sounds scary I'll probably live here the rest of my life,

"Swimming in the [pool] come and find me"-Drake

     Well back to the question, What am I?”  Well for some odd reason even though I no longer a swimmer, it’s the first thing I say. 

  I swam competitively for 10 years, during which time my entire life literally revolved around the sport.  I spent 6 days a week, 3 hours a day in the pool and once or twice a month I was away for the weekends at swim meets.  Balancing being a kid and my rigorous training schedule was not easy but I did it because I enjoyed it first and foremost and also because I was striving to reach a goal.  My goal was to receive a swimming scholarship and compete at Division I school.   Unfortunately I was unsuccessful in my goal because of an injury I sustained my junior year of High School.  I severely hurt my leg doing Track which made it impossible for me to compete at the level I needed to.  Although I didn’t reach my goal of swimming in college I still do not regret a single day that I spent swimming. I met my best friend through swimming and formed other lasting friendships.  I learned time management and discipline from swimming, something I feel cannot be easily taught. Today, though I no longer compete, I am still actively involved in the sport in the form of coaching as well as giving swim lessons.  The swimming world is one that I cannot seem to escape from but then again I wouldn’t want to either.  The years I spent swimming is something I will always be proud of and in describing myself I still always refer to myself as a swimmer.  Once a swimmer, always a swimmer is what I like to say.

INSIGHT

 For awhile my dream was to move to Alaska and study bears.  I know it sounds crazy but that's really what I wanted to do.  I longed to live in the cold, rugged, wilderness of Alaska and become a bear biologist.  At first everyone  thought it was a far fetched dream but when I contacted the swim coach for The University of Alaska Fairbanks and he arranged for an all expense paid trip to Alaska; every one's jaws dropped in shock. So I flew to Alaska....and nothing there was how I imagined it to be. 

  I guess I had and idealized view of Alaska and was thoroughly unprepared to deal the reality of it. I'm not an idiot, I knew it was going be cold but somehow I didn't expect it to be 25 degrees and snowing during the first week of May. The trip itself wasn't bad and I found many aspects of Alaska that I liked which for awhile made it impossible for me to decide whether or not Fairbanks was the place I should go for college.

     However...I had my epiphany one morning while waiting for the girl who was hosting me to get back from swim practice.(NCAA rules only allow you to practice once with the team) I remember sitting on her futon staring out the open window and watching a fresh snowfall coat the cars below.  The breeze made me shudder and the grey sky brought on a a sudden feeling of gloom and depression. At that moment I wanted more than ever to return to SC where it was 85 degrees and sunny.  I knew then I couldn't do it and I instantly texted my mom and told her that this school wasn't for me.  She was relieved because she was never a fan of the idea of me going to school so far from home. I had no second thoughts about my decision and it was probably the biggest insight of my life.  I like the warmth and would hardly ever get to see it in the cold, bleak city of Fairbanks.



view from apt



"I just wanna be successful" - Drake and Trey Songz

Drake wanted to be a hip hop star and in his song Successful he defines success as having cars, clothes, money and hoes.  I too aspire to be successful except I define success as simply attaining happiness.  Happiness and success are inextricably linked and it is impossible to talk about one without mentioning the other.  In today’s society everyone wants a good job that will allow them to live in a nice house and drive a nice car. Why? Because for most people it is these material possessions that they believe will make them happy.  To an extent I’m also part of this materialistic society, however I do recognize the fact that money alone cannot buy happiness. Though it can’t buy happiness it DEFINITELY helps.  Think about it: are homeless people or families on welfare ever depicted as being especially happy? The answer is obviously no.  The source of their unhappiness probably stems from their inability to live comfortably.  However it is important to note that the standards involved in living comfortably have significantly changed over the years.  Once upon a time a person was thought to be living comfortably if he or she just had their basic needs met.  But then as time progressed there become new tools to separate the haves from the have nots.  Advertisers began to make it their mission to make you believe you needed a certain something in order to feel happy and fulfilled.  In turn those who couldn’t afford the newest ipod or flat screen TV then felt as if something was missing from their lives.   The truth of the matter is more often than not nothing is missing in these people lives.  People are just made to think something is lacking and then despairingly strive to attain material objects because they think it’s the key to their happiness. Life’s a balancing act between what u want, what you think you want and what you actually need.

I firmly believe that if a person is healthy and has their basic needs met they should feel a certain degree of happiness.  However, sadly society is constantly telling a person whether it is through commercials or billboards that they need the latest in everything  if they want to be happy.   I’d like to again bring up the idea of being successful and how its currently defined. Let me give an example of a  cardiac surgeon making 250,000 dollars a year living in a 400,00 dollar house in the suburbs and a swim coach that barely makes 20,000 and rents a 3 bedroom apartment. I think most people would say without hesitation that the surgeon is a far more successful individual then the swim coach. However I conveniently left out that the surgeon is battling prostate cancer, has a wife who cheats on him and although he fervently wanted to has no children because they were unable to conceive.   He was never passionate about being a surgeon and only pursued such a career to follow in the family’s footsteps.  His real love was for teaching but knew his family would forever condemn him had he chose such a career. The swim coach on the other hand is healthy, happily married and has 2 children whom he adores.  The swim coach chose his salary in an effort to make his program affordable to more families.  Swimming is known as being an expensive sport that is primarily made up of upper middle class whites. The entire family is actively involved in the sport and hopes that in time money will no longer deter people away from the sport.  I’d also like to mention that these examples are not fictional, I know both the surgeon and swim coach.   Who now would you consider successful? This example shows that money should never be the sole indicator of success. “Money just changed everything I wonder how life without it would go…”   -Drake