While we are growing up, we are told we are “the future” and that we should make a difference. I know that in theory and I want to do that, but I know that it’s not as easy as movies or books portray it to be. As a child, you believe in things ideas like, “I’m going to end world hunger,” or “I’m going to cure cancer!” and that’s great. That’s ambition and it is beautiful and it isn’t harmful or regrettable to think like this. I remember watching documentaries and reading marine biology books about saving endangered fish and thinking, “I want to do that.” I remember watching Presidents speak about bringing peace to Iraq and thinking, “I want to do that, too.” But then, when I began to get older I realized that I was just one person and those ideas are sometimes just too big. As you get older, you realize how daunting it is to create real change. The world is a huge place, and there are so many people and causes that need help. Our parents may tell us that we can do anything we put our minds to, and that nothing can stop us. 

Pressure comes from many places like parents, school, peers and even society. There is so much pressure to do great things, but everyone’s “great” might not be my “great.”  I am proud to have received my education from the Clarke County public school system. I have had many teachers who continue to inspire me, years after I’ve left their classrooms. They have made a lasting impression on me.  I’ve known since I was 7 years old that I wanted to be a teacher, and I want to have that lasting impact on someone too. That’s my “great.”

As of yesterday, I finished my internship at the Sandwich Children’s Center in Sandwich, NH. I have spent every summer in this beautiful town and I wasn’t ready to stop and I also know I want to work with kids, so I emailed the director. I spent 8 weeks changing toddler diapers, making cakes made of sand with preschoolers, weeding little gardens and watching K-6 kids sing a song called “Squirelly Wood.” I learned more about teaching and kids than I thought I could, and I had a wonderful supervisor and incredible colleagues to help me. I feel strong and competent and more professional and I’ve never been more sure that I want to teach. I feel like I’m on the right track, and that’s all I ever really needed. I hate feeling out of control or clueless, and I don’t feel that way anymore.

To my friends at SCC… if you read this, I hope you know that you really changed me. I will be forever grateful to y’all for letting me in and teaching me how to be “great.” Thank you.

Noli timere, and I love y’all!

~ Addie