Preparation

Well, I'm not actually preparing yet. I suppose you could call studying for finals some sort of preparation for the job I'm about to take. Anyway, it's been a crazy semester here at Baylor and it's almost over. In fact, four years of reading, writing, laughing, and a bit of crying will come to an end in a week and a half. I have lots of good memories of Waco, TX, good friends that I will want to keep in touch with for a long time, and great lessons I've learned. Now I'm about to begin a new adventure that I would like to be able to share with friends, family, and other inquiring minds. This summer, beginning June 19th, I will be inducted into the 2005 Teach for America corps serving in New York City. A week later, all three hundred of us will travel to Philadelphia together on a chartered bus and begin the Institute, affectionately called "teacher boot camp" by some. This will be five weeks of intensive teacher training, working in groups with a master teacher and other novices preparing for similar teaching placements. I must admit I'm a bit nervous about this incredible challenge, but I'm also invigorated by the chance to live in a place like New York for two years and teach children that might not otherwise have a motivated, involved instructor. TFA places corps members in the Bronx, Harlem, Washington Heights, and Brooklyn, so I'll probably be living in one of those places. I suppose the biggest thing for me now is to finish up the great adventure I began here at college four years ago, while I mentally prepare for the one that's soon to come.