聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 It has been 10 years, since I鈥檝e stood where high school grads stand. Looking excitedly towards your future 鈥� for me it was post-secondary at the University of Lethbridge. I had waffled a lot regarding the big decision, what I wanted to do for the rest of my life 鈥� it鈥檚 a daunting decision. For me, there was never a big revelation or innate knowing of what I should do with my life.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 My first year of university, however, was less than fantastic when it came to the actual school part. I lived in a dorm room, my roommate and I shared a very tiny space, but we got along well thankfully, and the other people on my floor were awesome; so, everything was going well, except for my classes. I discovered I didn鈥檛 know the first thing about studying. High school had been rather easy for me and I began struggling and stressing out.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 That first semester I only had one math class, the rest were other Arts and Science courses you had to pick up. I had a sociology prof who talked about her time at Oxford more than she actually taught us anything, so preparing for her exams was next to impossible for me. The math class I managed to get me way through by going to extra study sessions. Luckily my mark going into the final was decent鈥� because I technically failed my final exam, scoring in like the 40s. I was honestly devastated. I don鈥檛 think I told my parents, in fact them reading this might be the first time they鈥檝e found out. My English class was terrible as well, I apparently can鈥檛 interpret poems the right way. Luckily I loved my history course and did well in it.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 My next semester wasn鈥檛 much better and out of five courses, two of them were math classes: calculus (which I did excellent in during high school) and stats. I was in the 50s for both and chose to drop both classes. I quit. I was never a quitter, so this was difficult for me. But, with quitting math I found an opportunity and switched my major to the only classes I seemed to enjoy, history.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 That second year brought more realizations. First semester I thought I did decently in a class, but the next semester when I spoke to the prof 鈥� he looked at my final exam grade from the semester before and simply said, 鈥淵ou might want to reconsider taking more classes with me.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 He had a reputation of being one of the toughest markers in the History Department, in the end my two other favourite profs in the History Department also carried similar titles. But, my reaction either could have been to give up or prove him wrong. I chose the latter. It was a challenge and I鈥檓 glad I had him influence the rest of my education 鈥� I raised my mark a full letter grade. That work ethic I developed to prove him wrong took me through the rest of university years.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 That year I also entered into Lethbridge鈥檚 pre-education course that students have to pass before being accepted into the Education faculty. I realized that although I loved teaching that the ways teaching was going meant that a young grade nine student came up to me after I assigned homework, he told me that he wasn鈥檛 going to do it, that he didn鈥檛 have to because you can鈥檛 get a zero, and that he鈥檇 see me tomorrow. I honestly don鈥檛 know how teachers, teach under rules like that.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 So, my plan out of high school to become a math teacher took a turn and I ended up graduating with a B.A. History, I took a year off to travel, then came back and found this job here. Life doesn鈥檛 always play out the way you think it will, but that鈥檚 kind of the exciting part about life.
