things going just right.

You know when something happens and it just reassures you that all the decisions you have made up until this point have been the right ones?

Next semester (Fall), I only have three required Education classes to take, and each of them are 3 hour classes. Two of them are on Tuesday, and one is on Thursday (night). For laying it out purposes, that leaves Monday, Wednesday, and Friday off! Combined with two of those classes, I also have a teaching day at a local school (the one that I will be student teaching at full-time my senior spring semester) which is on Wednesday, so that's that. Also, normal semesters have five classes, so I would need to choose 2 more classes to fill up my schedule...

The thing is though, I do not want to take more electives. I love the opportunity to learn, and I've been taking some pretty interesting electives throughout my time at Camp Champ that have furthered me as a person and as an educator, but I just don't want to be in class for the sake of being in class at this point. I would rather further myself more passionately. Plus I think these classes would induce some serious senioritis, and I'm trying to avoid the inevitable like the plague. I want to be challenged, and I haven't felt the balance of being healthily challenged (academically) at Champlain in so long. Academics have been my strong point while other aspects of my life have been difficult, and I'm ready for more.

So..this great opportunity hit me. My boss is also the director of the Master's in Early Childhood at Champlain, and she suggested that I start Grad school as my electives during my senior year. Only one other person has been approved to do this, which is a huge honor.

Here comes the happiness!

These classes are online, so while they will be a lot of written work, I have Mondays AND Fridays off (as well as Thursday until 5:30PM), which also relieves the pressures of next years long distance relationship (something I don't even have room to dissect in this post, but believe me..I have).

Also, each class is only 8 weeks long, and do not occur at the same time, so I will be taking one and then the other during my 15 week semester (with an extra week online). So, while I will be challenged, I will not be overwhelmed with two grad courses at once. This will actually be less than having one elective on campus and one grad course at the same time! You've g

ot to be kidding me with this good news, right?

Also, as college is ridiculously expensive, they have agreed to make the exception for me to have these classes count as my regular tuition.... so no extra money! Then, right as I graduate, I will be "applying" for the Champlain Grad Program, bu

t I will actually have some classes done already.

So, for as frustrated as I get a

bout Champlain, and as much of a difficult time this year has been, things are headed in the right direction, and I truly believe I am better off now than I have been in a long, long time. I look forward to working my ass off senior year, and playing hard as well along the way.

ugh.

true feelings.

"I've reached the age where I can't function without my glasses...

especially when they're empty"

The power of social media and using your powers for good

Today, social media networks are overrun with Super Bowl statuses, tweets, instagrams, etc.. It's crazy how one social event can be so widely known. With today's technology, everyone becomes their own social commentator. If Madonna looks like she's "lip-syncing", within 10 minutes all social media is flooded with comments. The event itself as well as the commercials have their own hash tags that are used by millions. I'm not saying its a bad thing, but you can't deny that's pretty powerful stuff.

So why can't we use that power for good? Instead of (or in addition to) flooding social media with the latest event, why don't we use those powers to change the world? If everyone tweeted as much about using resources as much as they do about how Madonna preformed tonight, maybe the world would be a different place. Just #maybe.

oar summers.

So raise em up, raise em up
All I ever wanted was a shot at your love
I know and I believe
Everything we got is everything we need

teaching.

And when my students ask,
"Are we going to be responsible for this?"
I say, If not you, then who?
...And when they say, "What we meant was,
Will we be tested on this?"
I say Every single day of your lives!

- Taylor Mali

MLK.

Shout out to Martin Luther King Jr.: even though Champlain won't observe you, I will.