Friday, January 28, 2011

*Drum roll please...*

Welp, it's just me...Nikki Friend, from the amazing valley of Escondido *enter disappointed sound effect*. I've lived in San Diego county my whole life. The only major move I had to endure was in the freshman year of high school from Escondido to Rancho Bernardo. I went to Felicita Elementary from K-5 then went to Light & Life Christian School in 6th, Grant Middle School for 7th and 8th, Orange Glen High School for the first semester of freshman year and transferred to Rancho Bernardo the second semester of freshman year. Phew *wipes brow*. Which brings us to my college "career" which I have been working on part time since the summer after high school. I went to Palomar for, count it, 6 years...you can't see it, but I am hiding from shame. I just didn't know what I wanted to do so I did everything, and at a slow pace while I worked full time. Enter Fall Semester of 2010, and I finally made it to CSUSM and am doing it full time, finally making it a priority. Which brings us to this class.




I decided a little over a year ago that I wanted to be a Speech Language Pathologist. I investigated the steps necessary to become an SLP, and one of the stepping stones is this class. Technology, while cool, does not hold any sort of opinion from me. Well, that's not true...I think both good and bad things come from it, but I like it more than not. I'm pretty open to anything new, and that includes technology.

The portion of the CSUSM College of Education Mission Statement that mean the most to me, is their dedication to " collaboratively transform public education by preparing thoughtful educators and advancing professional practices." I want to be one of those thoughful educators. Often times people get into a profession and it becomes a mindless, repetitive and unfulfilling job. In order for both myself and the children to feel rewarded, I will have to take the reins and not fall "into the grind" and continuously be thoughful. While this mission statement is a powerful one, it was not a deciding factor on whether or not I would attend CSUSM.

Until then, it's "back to the grind" at my 7-5:30. :)