7 Semesters Down, 1 To Go

Fall semester is officially over and I'm now on break! I'm always a big fan of this nice long break from college but this year it was a little bittersweet.
It was hard leaving my little guys at my elementary school. I had such a great semester doing my Student Teaching, I couldn't have asked for a better experience! Now I just need to worry about finding an actual teaching job post-graduation!

My family's new Irish Pub is now open so i've basically spent all my time in there since I got home. I'm starting to learn the ropes and actually be helpful while i'm there instead of just being in the way. It's still very new/strange/weird to me that we own this restaurant and these real people come in to eat and drink there. And I have the ability to just go into the kitchen or behind the bar and that it's just fine. I'm proud of my family for creating something so successful.

With all this pub-business I am finding it difficult this year to find the Christmas spirit and it's making me a little sad! Usually I come home to a beautifully decorated house that is bursting with Christmas spirit...and this year no one was even planning on buying a tree! My family has been very busy and I get that...so I took it upon myself to buy a tree. But I guess for my last time coming home from college for Christmas I was dissapointed in the lack of enthusiasm for the holidays. Oh well.

Anyways, I am looking forward to seeing all my friends that I don't get to see enough, grades being posted, our staff Christmas party, Secret Santa swap, making money, and numerous lunch dates! This will be a wonderful last winter break, I am sure of it!

Crunch Time!

We're in the home stretch of first semester!
Last observed lesson tomorrow...phew! I'll be glad that I surived all of those.
Licensure Defense Presentation a week from Friday...not sure that I'm actually going to survive that!
2 weeks and 2 days until Student Teaching is done. YIKESEROONI!
Who knew I wouldn't even have enough time to update this blog on all my amazing expereinces?! Wasn't that my original point of starting this?? Bummer!

Well...this decade is just about over. My new life motto...TIME FLIES. that's all. I guess I can't make it slow down, so I'm just going to try to enjoy this crazy ride!

On stress overload...back to work!

Giving Thanks.

I was in a first grade classroom the other day while the students we're making paper turkeys and on each feather they had to write one thing they were thankful for. I was so impressed and amazed with some of the things they came up with. It made me stop and think that I'm not sure that I've ever really thought about and created a list of things I am thankful for when it was actually Thanksgiving. Usually, at this time in the semester I am caught up saying things like "Thank God we have Thanksgiving break" or "Thankfully this semester is almost over". It tends to be a pretty stressful time in college life. However, I feel that I am in a very different place this year and feeling much more thankful for everyone.
If a first grader can reflect and actually list the things they are truly thankful for, than so can I.

Here goes:

I am SO thankful for my student teaching experience and the happiness it has brought me. There hasn't been one day that I haven't wanted to wake up super early and spend my day with those kids. It is just such an amazing feeling to know that my career is going to make me so happy. I'm also thankful for the all the people involved in my student teaching that are willing to teach me and help me become a better teacher.

I am super thankful for my family for supporting me and to have put me through four years of a not so cheap college so that I could literally follow my dreams. There probably is no way I could ever pay them back, but I hope I can at least make them proud!

And I am so thankful for all my friends. Especially my friends that have never left my side no matter how far apart we may actually be living from each other. It's so nice to know that I have so many people that I can turn to that I know will always be there.

As I was in the copy room of my elementary school waiting for my copies to be finished, I found this poem that a teacher had left behind. I immediately fell in love and took it with me. It's perfect for this post:

Thanks to You
Every night as you climb into bed

Let these thoughts swim through your head

Did you make someone smile today?

Did you drive someone's blues away?

And if you did

Remember this

Every bit of good that you do

Makes this world a better place...

THANKS TO YOU!

Just a thought...

Something I've been thinking about lately...


There are so many people living in this world just going about their days simultaneously and there are so many people you see everyday or pass by once that you probably have so much in common with. There's so much we don't know about so many people, even those that we are close to and yet you could have very similar lives. It just boggles my mind.


I also love the saying about smiling at people when you pass them because you don't know what they're goig through and you just might brighten day. I consciously try to think about this everyday.

I'll Never Be Good at Good-Byes

It is now the half way point of first semester which means as a 'split-placement' student teacher, my General Ed experience is over and Monday I will begin my Special Ed placement.

This past week (the last week in my second grade class) I took over full time and taught all day for the whole week. It was one of the most challenging yet rewarding things i've done. If you asked me 8 weeks ago if I thought i'd be ready and able to teach an entire day, my answer definitely would've been no. However, I was ready and it was amazing.
It has always been my dream to be a second grade classroom teacher, so this little taste of what it would be like was a dream come true. I have been so happy and enjoying every single day of the semester. I became very attached to all of my students and had the best relationship with my cooperating teacher.

Leaving on Friday was very very difficult and sad for me. It was almost comparable to "Week 6, Day 6" in the summer. Although I will be right next door for the next 8 weeks, I won't be spending all day everyday with my 21 second graders that have a stolen my heart.
Here's little glipse at how special these children are...they had indoor recess on Friday so during their recess they all sat at their desks while my cooperating teacher and I exchanged gifts. I had each student write her a letter and i made a whole scrapbook for her so the kids have been anticipating her recieving it for weeks. As we took up their entire recess reading cards, gushing over our gifts, and crying...one of the students raised their hands and said "This has been the best recess ever!" and then every student enthusiastically agreed. That is why leaving them is so difficult.

Anyways, I am keeping an open mind for my Special Ed placement because I know I will learn a lot and most likely become attached to all new children that I will eventually have to say good-bye to.

PS22 Chorus

This video is just too amazing not to post. If you haven't seen videos of these kids, you need to check it out! They are chorus from an elementary school in New York. They are awesome. Just watch, you'll see.

Apple Pies!

This past Friday in Second Grade we made Apple Pies! Regardless of the ridiculous hour I was up until the night before prepping for the pie making- it was the best day and so incredibly worth it.

Each student got a pie tin and 2 pre-cut circles of pie dough. First they each had a turn peeling an apple with a crazy intense apple peeler thing. Then the kids got to put one piece of dough into their tin and my cooperating teacher showed how to measure (of course we included some math in there because everything must meet a standard these days) all of the ingredients that go into the filling. My cooperating teacher and a parent volunteer made a big batch of the filling while I read the story of Johnny Appleseed aloud to the class. I had so much fun with that read aloud!
Thennn each student filled their pin tin and we taught them how to put the little slits into the top of their dough. Then they put the top piece on and pinched the edges. So cute!

It was amazing how seriously they took their pie making- you could've heard a pin drop while they were doing it! It was such a relaxing and enjoyable Friday afternoon. And I am sure that these students may not remember the Long E phonics lesson I taught that morning, but they will never forget the day they made Apple Pie in second grade! I am making a promise to myself now that I will make apple pies with my own classes!

How precious is that??

That's When I Miss You, You Who Are My Home

This semester has been going wonderfully and I've been very happy lately. The weather has been beautiful, pretty much the perfect temperature and the leaves are starting to change color! It really puts me in a fabulous mood.
I have been crazy busy and doing a million things at a million miles an hour, but I am enjoying everything I am doing.

This weekend I went home for the first time since the semester started, and it was just the best weekend. I just felt really, truly, happy the whole weekend.

On Friday night I got to see a lot of people that I really missed and it was nice for that day to finalllly arrive after I had been anticipating it for about a month. We spent the night outside and I enjoy being outside as much as possible before it becomes ridiculously cold.
On Saturday morning I went to a cheerleading practice to help a friend who is the coach. I love going there and helping the team- it gives me my cheerleading fix that I don't get anymore.
Then I went with my parents to look at the pub-in-the-making. There is still a lot to be done before it opens but it was cool to see the construction in progress and see how much has been done in just 3 short weeks. This is also something that is making my parents very happy. We are all in the same place-extremely busy...but working towards something that is going to have amazing results when it's finished!
My mom and I tried to go apple picking but there was just wayyyyy too many people. I'm pretty sure every in New England had the same idea, so we just bought some apples from the orchard and enjoyed those.
Saturday night I spent with my mom and sister just catching up and enjoying each other's company- another perfect night.

On Sunday I spent the afternoon with more people that I hadn't seen in awhile and missed very much. We ate lunch and reminisced. Nothing better.

As much as I love being in Newport, I still have so many ties to home and people I love there.
"There's no place like home"

"As each person makes a new decision to stand up for what's most important to him or her, this trend gains strength."

I have recently started setting aside time each night (even if it's just 5 minutes) to read. The book I most recently finished and the book I am currently reading both deserve a post because I personally think they are so inspiring!

The book I finished about a week ago is called The Ultimate Gift by Jim Stovall. It was recommended to me by my cooperating teacher who found it inspirational and I definitely agree with her. It is so interesting and different from any other book I have ever written and it totally makes you think twice about how you are living your own life. I literally could not put it down. If you need some uplifting or want a feel good book, read this book!

The book I am currently reading is called Me to We by Craig and Marc Kielburger. The authors are same people who started the Free the Children organization, which my summer program raised money for this year. I was inspired this summer by this organization and can't stop thinking about how much I would love to continue to be involved with it and when I saw this book on the shelf I couldn't resist buying it.
The Me to We philosophy was started by these authors, who basically inspire people all over the world to stop thinking just about themselves and come together for the greater good of the community. The book talks about all their worldly encounters and experiences they've had, but my favorite part is the end of each chapter that gives examples of how you can live your own life by this philosophy.

This book has really inspired me to make a conscious effort to try to live by the 'We' philosophy. How can you start moving from Me to We?

This video is one of the authors of Me to We explaining their philosophy. So worth watching!

Approaching Autumn

Although in my mind Fall started approximately 4 weeks ago, tomorrow is the first official day of Fall! Being in an elementary school makes that seem so much more exciting. Hopefully we will start planning lessons around the leaves changing colors and apples, it seems so cliche but it would make me so incredibly happy!

In addition to the seasons changing....the weather we have been having as been amazingly perfect. I'm pretty sure I talk about it everyday, but I just can't get over it. I could live in Sunny and 70 degree weather every single day. I need to find the place that that exists! It certainly isn't New England. But I am grateful for the month of September, it has been fantastic in so many ways.

This past weekend was also fabulous. I went to bed early one night, spent a morning at the beach and helping the environment while i enjoyed the scenery, shopped on Thames (bought the cutest sweatshirt), played pool at a bar that night, and ended the weekend it with a delicious dinner at Panera with wonderful friends. It really doesn't get any better.
Anddddd this weekend is going to be equally as amazing! I am counting down the days!

I also can't complain about the days that occur between these wonderful weekends. Student Teaching is going so well. I have loved just about every minute I have spent in that second grade classroom. Even the challenging moments and the children that are more difficult to work with are all learning experiences. I have begun taking on a lot more responsibility in the classroom and I've been teaching Writing Workshop everyday. I had my first observed lesson last week which was scary and I was really nervous about! It went very smoothly though and I was so relieved! The kids have been amazing and their excitement about learning blows me away!
I did catch one little boy passing a note to a little girl on the rug today. This was becoming very distracting to all the children in that area so I made the little boy give me the note. I guess since they are just second graders I didn't need to act so strictly, but the best part is that once I got the note it just said "Hi 'girls name'. From 'boys name'. A love letter in the style of an 8 year old I can only imagine. Maybe there will be some romance blossoming in my classroom! Hah!

Despite all the hard work and long hours that comes with Student Teaching, everything is just wonderful. It is so nice to finally feel like everything I've worked so hard on in the past few years at Salve is all finally becoming worth it. It is nice to sit in a faculty meeting and actually understand the 'teacher jargon' that is being thrown around. I hope these wonderful feeling stick around and things continue to go smoothly.

Check back for updates on more Second Grade love notes! Fascinating stuff...I know!

Student Teaching!!

So, yesterday I finished up my first week of Student Teaching! It is just so crazy to me that I have been thinking about my student teaching since freshmen year and even when I was applying to Salve and they talk about it at all the open houses and things...and it is actually here!

This week was incredible! I have already learned so much in just one week! My cooperating teacher is phenominal. She is so energetic, fun, and loving with the kids and she is so kind to me. She really has made me feel so comfortable in her classroom and demands that the students respect me the same way they do her.

The school that I am at is beautiful! All the teachers that work there are so nice and friendly and the actual building is really nice! We have a door in our classroom that opens up to the outside...right to the playground! It's incredible! Andddd it is about a one minute drive to the beach and my new favorite place.. Ocean Mist!

The second graders in my class are the most adorable kids you will ever meet! They are so cute and funny. They are also really smart too! I am so impressed by their reading levels, drawing abilities, math skills, etc.! Just about everything they say makes me laugh but my favorite kid anecedote of the week was when we were telling the students the importance of being themselves and liking themselves for who they are and accepting others despite their differences, we asked them to all share something they were good at. Many of the answers were things like 'Im good at baseball' or 'I'm a good big sister' or 'I'm good at dancing'. But my favorite of all answers was from one of my favorite children in the entire world when he said 'I am good at being myself'! Ahh melts my heart! So precious!

I got to spend my week painting rainbows, coloring a puzzle piece, drawing a picture of myself, and getting to know 21 amazing second graders! What more could you ask for?? I have a feeling it is going to be a great 8 weeks! (I am, however, not so much looking forward to the whole Salve classes/seminar thing that is going to happen after next week....things could be getting much more stressful!)

On the last note, I can't believe that the Project has been over for almost a month! Jeez, I thought that time was flying by while I was there! I am so incredibly glad that many of those people have still been keeping in touch...hearing from them never fails to put a smile on my face.

Definitely more updates on the lives on second graders!! There is just so much to include!

My First Day of School Outfit!

All their little backpacks!! So cute!

Where Has the Time Gone??

It seems like just yesterday I was writing my last post. That was now a good month ago and it was during the very middle of my summer program. That has now ended and I am moving closer and closer to school-mode.

This summer was incredible. I can't even begin to describe how incredibly quickly it feels like it went by, but sitting here looking back on it...there were so many good memories. It would be impossible to include everything I did this summer, and if you know even a little bit about my job you understand, but I made the most amazing bonds with both students and the staff this summer that I could never forget. I was genuinely proud of the kids for the things they were doing and I really respect the way they treat each other (I think more people in the world could learn a little something from them!) and I now feel like some of the people I work with are my best friends (also respectable people whom the rest of the world could learn a little something from). It may be corny but I feel like I grew as a person this summer and reflected on what was going on and the people around me. Damn Salve for making 'reflecting' a new habit of mine.

Now that summer is quickly coming to an end I've also found myself in disbelief that: A) I'm going into my senior year, B) I'm going to be student teaching in about a week, and C) that 3 years could possibly go by that fast. I don't know when I went from the girl who was petrified of college and never thought I'd be brave enough to go to the girl who looks forward to going back every year and has become so involved in school.

I had a conversation yesterday that keeps running through my mind, it went something like this:
Me: "I always have to get a sticker for my car in the summer and I always forget and drive around with an expired sticker. And now next year my sticker is going to be up in August and I'm going to forget to get my car inspected, then im going to go back to school with an expired sticker and it's going to be such a hassle to get a new one...rant, rant, rant..."
Friend: "You're not going to be going back to school after next summer..."

!!! Reality check! I think that conversation is the real reason for this post because it FINALLY hit me that this is it, the last time i'll be getting ready to go back to Salve. So weird! I can't really wrap my mind around it. Anywho, I'm really excited for this year. Lots of big things happening and it is going to be lots of fun!

Student Teaching posts to come for sure! Stay tuned...

♥ You Left Your Imprints On Me ♥


"So long sweet summer, I stumbled upon you and gratefully basked in your rays. So long sweet slumber. I fell into you now you're gracefully falling away. Hey thanks, thanks for that summer.

We're Half Way There

It's been so long since I last updated! YIKES! So much has happened in the past couple weeks that I could never do it justice just by blogging.

The Project is 'half way over', however, I prefer to say that we still have a whole half left.
It has been amazing. The students are awesome and I have found myself dreading Fridays because I am content hanging out with them.
My scrapbook is really starting to come along nicely. I have completed a few pages now and I am very pleased at how they have come out.

Some other things that occurred this past two weeks...I had a Pow Wow, I dressed up a music stand and it is now referred to as my boyfriend, I threw a Spa Party and put face masks and cucumbers on the kids, I FINALLY got to wear my Salve football jersey (Sorry Miss...I wish we could've worn them together), I had a quite successful cheerleading event, I had a few karaoke parties, I did the Hoe Down Throwdown AT a Hoe-Down and it was everything I hoped it would be, I laughed until my stomach muscles literally hurt, and I managed to escape the Week 3 plague (cross your fingers that it doesn't carry over into Week 4).
So much more has happened but I really just can't even remember anymore.

Tonight I went to the Billy Joel and Elton John concert and it was incredible! I'm not a huge concert-goer so I don't really have many other concerts to compare it to but they were awesome and picked such good songs to play and they ended with Piano Man so I really couldn't ask for anything more!

I slightly feel like I am living in a dream at the moment and I need to be pinched. I feel like every day just passes me by so quickly and I go through a very similar routine that I am not appreciating all the things I'm doing at the time. Sometimes I wish I had the power to make time stand still. I count down the days til this time every year and it makes me sad when I can't remember every minute of every day. The next few weeks I am going to work hard to let everything that is going on around me to soak it in and appreciate it. Then hopefully I will have more to blog about!

Finally, I must mention how extremely excited I am that the weather has finally turned around and actually gotten warmer. We even made it through an entire week without rain! Hallelujah!

Let's make time slow down... ready, set, go!

Happy 4th Of July!!

I am sure that this is my favorite time of the year. I like Christmas and my birthday and all those exciting things, but every year when the 4th rolls around I am at my happiest.

The Project is underway and if you ask me I'd say we're off to a running start.

In the past week I have shook hands with more people in 15 minutes than I probably did all year, created an 8 foot jail out of paper, played 4-square, skip-it, colored with chalk, recieved friendship bracelets, had a paper snowball fight, had a dance party, dressed in all 'gold', did the hoe-down throwdown at a real dance, and reunited with many people that I missed very much. I don't care what you do during the summer...my job wins.

Anyways...that is just a small list of things that I crammed into the past 8 days. I wish I could make time slow down, I wish I could remember every minute of everyday so that 5 weeks from now I could sit down and enjoy all the little things that occurred. However, I am positive that just as in the past 2 years, the big picture at the end of the summer will be one I won't forget.

This 4th of July weekend was also spectacular. I am arrived home on Thursday to find my favorite 4 month old at my house ready to drool all over me. He is wayyy too cute to even care. Its funny how you can only know someone for 4 months and go through withdrawals everyday that you're not around them. This baby melts my heart and I love him. I then stayed in and enjoyed all the rest and relaxation I could.

The 3rd of July has always been a favorite of mine. For the past 9 years I have gone to the same beach with just about all the same people. This year I only made an appearance at this beach which is unusual behavior for me...but things in life are changing and whether we like it or not, I think we just have to accept it. I am very glad that I got to see those people though, I miss them a lot. Later that night I went to a cookout, which was very very fun and I am also glad that I did not miss that gathering as well.

The actual 4th was filled with sisterly bonding, fireworks, and some low-key 'hanging out'.

It's very tough to catch up my blog with everything that has happened in my life the past week or so, but I will put an end to this very long post with a picture of those Gold leggings I previously blogged about, being worn in all their glory...

Life Without Technology

As I was in the midst of preparing for The Project, I came across two very similar 'news' stories that really got me thinking...

The first story I read on my Yahoo news...they now have a TEXTING championship. I imagine it to be somewhat like a spelling bee, since I believe there were rounds and everything, only it is whoever can text a certain message the fastest without any errors and using all those stupid codes correctly. The winner, I believe, was a 14 year old girl.
The second story caught my attention while Rachel Ray was on TV in the background. She had all kids who were really good at certain things on her show. One of the girls she had on was a 14 year old girl who held the record for sending the most text messages in a year...or some amount of time. It averaged to something like 400 texts a day or something really crazy like that.

These two stories and a very deep conversation I had the other day... had me thinking in amazement of the environment that I live in all summer at camp. We (students and staff) live practically technology-free all summer. We have no TVs and for the most part no computers, internet, or cell phones. The students don't have their cell phones glued to their hand...they don't even have them in their possession, and the staff isn't constantly checking their facebook every 10 minutes.
I am the first person to admit that i am addicted to being on my computer and on the internet and connected to the world in that way, however, I 100% look forward to being disconnected for the summer. I love not having internet for weeks at a time, not having time to check my cell phone til extremely late at night, and not killing my brain cells with the crap that's on TV.

All of that being said...what you discover at this particular camp is that the product of life without technology is...people creating the most amazing bonds with other people because they talk to each other...in person. The students play games together, discover new things they are good at, step out of their comfort zone to meet new people, and have real heartfelt conversations.

I digress...you truly have to see it happen, it amazes me, and I love it. Disconnected in T-minus 6 days!

The Cape

I spent the past few days at my beach house in the Cape. Despite the rain and not so nice weather, I had a super fun time. I got to see my school friends which was fabulous since it might be awhile since I will see them again, and spent some quality time and catching up with home friends.

Thursday was spent going out to dinner, playing Cranium, and drinking.
Friday was really rainy so we slept late, relaxed around the house, then got Arnolds (delicioussss food...where we also met the famous yellow lobster, Fiona), then we came home, drank, and played more games.
Saturday was finally a nice day so we spent most of the day on the beach. Got some color...wooo! We had big plans to go to the drive-in that night but unfortunately a whole lot of fog rolled in so we rented Milk instead and curled up on the couch. Milk is an awesome movie and I would strongly reccommend it! Then we all were in bed by about 10:30 reading our novels. We have turned into 60 year women apparently.

So...I finished My Sister's Keeper. I don't think i've ever read a book of that length in such a short time...for example: I started reading Sisters by Danielle Steel last summer (or the summer before, I can't even remember it's been so long) and I've still only made it to page 100. Don't worry- i've read other books between then. Ok...that wasn't the point...the point is that My Sister's Keeper was definitely one of the best books I've ever read. I was addicted to it and so sucked in that I felt like a character in the story. If you are reading this post, and haven't already read this book, I would suggest shutting down the computer and reading immediately. The ending was such a surprise...and even though everyone kept telling me that...I was still so completely surprised. If I cried easily...I would've cried. Anywho...read this book, it's fantastic.

EBAY!!

I had my first Ebay bidding experience! I was super nervous! I was bidding on an amazingly cheap pair of black cowboy boots that are going to be PERFECT for the hoedown! There had been a few bids previous to my own and when I jumped in there was still about 24 hours left. My first bid was around $7.00 and I had the highest bid for a while (I checked about every 2 minutes or so). THEN I was outbid a couple hours later...so my next bid was for $8 and then I covered my bases and set it up so Ebay would text me if I was outbid. It came down to the last 10 minutes and I was still the highest bidder and I was freaking out. To make this long story short...I ended up winning these boots for $8 and I couldn't be happier!

And speaking of the hoedown... I am trying desperately to learn the Hoedown Throwdown...as is most of my co-workers. It is going to be a difficult task, but it will be AMAZING if we can all break out into a choreographed dance at the Hoedown just like Hannah Montana!

Other things... I have been babysitting my favorite baby in the entire world and I go through withdrawals when I'm not with him, I've been substituting here and there...I was an aid with a Kindergarten teacher yesterday who gave me a box full of instructional books, workbooks, flip charts, posters, and a lot of awesome teaching supplies. I was so grateful. I've been reading My Sister's Keeper. It's amazing so far. I am also being harassed to finish it faster so I can discuss it with a certain individual. Andddd I'm leaving for the Cape tomorrow for the weekend and I'm really excited because I love it there and I don't get to go enough.

One last note...2 weeks from today I will be moving into my summer program and I cannot wait. I am becoming more and more antsy as the days go on. Nothing makes me happier....

Is It Time Yet?

I may or may not have just bought these:



















It's officially the start of summer! Expect many more 'golden' updates!

Common Cement

This happened a week or so ago, but so worth watching! It's Ellen DeGeneres' commencement speech at Tulane University...both hilarious and inspiring!

This Is Me

I blogged my way through high school (if you could call it that) and after taking a break for a couple years, I’m going to give it another shot. Going into senior year of college, student teaching in the fall, and just about to begin the best summer job ever- I feel that my life is going to become more exciting and hopefully blog-worthy.

The first time around it was a team-effort and we basically wrote about our own inside jokes and the pointless adventures that filled our time. A quote from my previous blog that basically sums up what my life was like 5 years ago:“Ok so well it’s Monday and this weekend consisted of, Friday- cheerleading 5-9, Saturday- cheerleading 5-9 and Sunday- sat in the rainy wet weather watching graduation then cheerleading 5-9. I survived my first driving hour (just barely) and I have to do that again on Tuesday and I have awards night on Wednesday...yay perfect attendance!!”
Besides just finishing my last year cheerleading (after 13 years…yikes!), my hope is to have some bigger and better experiences to blog about. Including…college graduation and where life will take me after that, in just one short year!

Why Prom Gowns & Projects you ask? These 2 things characterize my life in many ways.
Prom Gowns…I absolutely love prom gowns and both proms were two of the best nights of my life, however, this has a bigger meaning in my life. Just approaching 5 years ago I opened a chapter of the non-profit nationwide organization Becca’s Closet in my town and I collected prom gowns and then donated them to girls who were unable to afford one and otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend prom. I spent many hours spreading the word, collecting gowns, and running appointments. This past October I began a second chapter, and the first one in Rhode Island, and collected about 250 gowns in about 6 months. At any given time there was at least one prom gown in either my living room or the back of my car and I spent a lot of energy getting this chapter up and running. I’m also a huge fan of the organizations motto: “Little things can make a big difference.”
Projects…basically being an education major requires many projects. There was always some project-esque assignment that needed to be completed for class or to accompany a lesson plan. I have a feeling that this will be something that will continue in my future career. Additionally, one of my favorite things in the world is the summer camp that I work at which we will call The Project.

And to quote a fortune that I got from a fortune cookie today and absolutely loved, “Fight for it. You will come out on the top.”