Where You lead, I will follow

How I got to now:
I went to the University of Virginia for college, graduating in May of '07 with Psychology and Religious Studies majors. I had entered college like the typical UVa student: med-school - bound. Within a semester I knew that wasn't for me, but it wasn't until my fourth year that I started narrowing in on a career. I had toyed with the idea of going to law school in typical Jackson style, only I would've probably ended up doing some sort of family law. In the end, though, education was calling me. I had a thought of doing school counseling/guidance counseling work, and friends continued to tell me that this would be a perfect fit. I had had my share of obstacles throughout college, though, so I wasn't interested in entering a Master's program directly following graduation. What I found instead has been a huge blessing to me in so many ways: The UVa College Guides Program. This program, receiving most of its funding through Americorps, places recent UVa grads across Virginia in high schools that have been identified as underserved, very low college-going, widely low SES, and highly first-generation. My job is to work alongside the guidance offices to help fill the holes caused by them losing some contact with students due to all the high-stakes testing going on these days; basically, this means I am an added resource for students, educating them about and then aiding them in the search for some form of post-secondary education (not necessarily 4- or even 2-year colleges) and the financial aid to pay it...and it's effective because they recognize me as a near-peer, someone who is viewed as more approachable and who may have more in common with them then the older staff members.

When I first found out that my placement had me about 2 hours from the nearest College Guide (and 4 hours from UVa), I was absolutely terrified. I mean, what did I know about Virginia outside of Charlottesville (I’m originally from the Chicago area)? Let me tell you, though, God really had a hand in all of it. I quickly got hooked up with some local Young Life leaders from Emory and Henry College who have become my family here, and now I am a volunteer Young Life leader at one of the two schools at which I am placed with the Guides. My first year with the program turned into an overhaul of my faith-attitude, world view, and plans for what comes next.

My job placement has certainly affected me more than I could have expected at the outset. Working in the schools and with students who are hurting moves me on a daily basis. At least 50% at both of my high schools are on free or reduced lunch, and a large portion of those students very obviously come from families who live either below the poverty line or whose parents aren't involved in their children's lives at all, or both. I feel like I was blind before -- especially in high school -- but now I can recognize when a student has no one around them who loves them, no one to assure them that their lives mean something and that they can have hope -- both in this life and in that to come. And I am exceedingly grateful when I look back at my own teenage years and see all of those people I had actively caring for me, praying for me, taking an interest in my life. As I remember them, they were cool, relatable role models in my life, something I hope I have been able to replicate in my time so far with the College Guides. I hope I can give my students an idea of what it is to actively live your faith and to love like Jesus.

I know I have done the best I can, and I hope I have planted some seeds in Southwest Virginia that someday will blossom. In the meantime, I have grown exceedingly in my own faith and witness through my efforts to be Christ to others. At this point in my own journey, I don’t feel enormously compelled to go back for graduate school right away in 2009 but rather see opportunity for a new wave of personal strides by pursing a missions opportunity. Accordingly, next year I will be working through TeachOverseas.org (Educational Services International) in a high school or language center in either Hungary or the Czech Republic. Working as a TESOL or TEFL teacher makes sense given my already deeply-rooted interest in education, and this sort of position will be a perfect marriage of my career field with my adventure-seeking tendencies. Mostly, though, by serving as an English teacher in Central Europe, I will once again have the opportunity to be Jesus in high school students’ lives. Granted, the environmental factors and individualities of Southwest Virginia and Central Europe are very different, but the need for love and hope is the same. I wish for these students to have people in their lives caring for them for them deeply – hopefully deeply enough to show and share Jesus – and I am at a stage in my life when I am readily available to serve as that person. I am excited to be that person as I help teach them a skill – English – that will be life-long and will assist in the globalization and economic development of Central Europe! I know the challenges will be great and there will be scary days and seemingly impossible obstacles, but I know from my own experience that even the most insurmountable barriers can bow down to God and His ultimate plan. By relying on Jesus and trusting Him as I learn a new culture and become a full-time teacher for the first time in my life, I hope I can develop a servant’s heart more fully, something that I will be able to take with me through life – as a teacher, a counselor, a volunteer, a wife, a mother, a whatever-role-God-gives-me.