The Long Journey

    As of this moment, I am 35 years old and married to a wonderful, amazing man.  I am a mother to a beautiful 13 year old girl, a handsome 11 year old boy, an incredibly smart 3 year old boy, and soon to be mother to another little boy. Yes, I have my hands full! Prior to attending UNLV, I aspired to be a chef. Cooking was something I had always loved to do and thought that what better than to go to culinary school and try to make something of myself in that field. As much as I loved the experience and I learned so much from doing that, I decided that perhaps that being a chef was not the route I wanted to go. Yet, I still had dreams of doing something where I could have more of an impact on others. So, I decided to further my education and go to school to be a teacher.    Helping others has always been something I have been good at. I have always had a nurturing side, and was always told I have the patience of a saint. Teaching started early for me. When I was in elementary school, I was ahead of the other students in reading so I would leave my first grade classroom every day for an hour and work with students in the reading lab, helping them learn the alphabet, phonics and reading. This experience really helped me to appreciate the gift that I had, and even at that young age I realized that everyone needs to have the chance to succeed.

HARD TIMES

    Now comes the difficult part, where you never know what life will throw at you.  Even the best laid plans may need a little detour. For a while I was having sudden persistent migraines and vertigo. During my final semester at CSN and before I could have a chance to start classes at UNLV, my doctor performed an MRI and discovered a mass in my brain. My health was more important to me, but I decided to finish the semester out and then have surgery right away. It was a good thing I did, because it turns out that the mass was cancerous. This was a huge bombshell for my family and myself, as it is not anything anyone in my family has had to deal with. Following surgery was months (almost a year) of recovering and dealing with unimaginable pain and memory issues.  Still now, I have the pain of recovery due to nerve damage and memory problems, yet I am thankful every day that I am here alive. I feel like I have been given another chance, and I feel that my future students are like that too: everyone deserves another chance. Needless to say, the road has been a long and hard one for me. My journey to become a teacher has not been without its obstacles. Being able to see the finish line is one of the most exciting moments in my life.