I am in my senior year of high school and there is fifteen minutes left of my seventh period class. Mr. Stevic is going over our final act for The West Side Story and as I looked up at him reciting how I should feel during that scene I notice passion in his eyes. I admired that in him and I remember wondering why a man with such outstanding acting skills resulted in becoming a high school drama teacher. So I asked him, “Mr. Stevic why did you decide to be a teacher?” In my mind I said to myself, “Maybe he could not make it as an actor and I just reminded him of his failure. What a dummy.” “I love to teach,” he exclaimed. He stated those four little words with such ease and excitement and for that second I hoped I would feel the same with my career.
After high school I decided to go to college and major in Theatre. Acting has been my dream since I was a child and giving up on it seemed unacceptable. Regardless of the fact that Theatre was what I wanted to do I knew that there was no security in it and eventually I had to pursue something else. I took some prerequisites for Theatre at Palm Beach Community College but my passion for acting was still there and I was sure that it was what I wanted to do. I decided to go to Florida International University in hopes that maybe it would lead me on the right path.
After I transferred to Florida International University I decided to focus on taking care of my required classes first. While there I began to feel that although acting is something I love to do, I was unsure if it would be such a promising career. I eventually transferred to Florida Atlantic University and was still very confused with what I wanted to get my degree in. Shortly after I moved back home I ran into Mr. Stevic. Seeing him reminded me of how I felt that day in his class. That’s when I decided to try pursuing a career in the education field. I took some prerequisites for Elementary Education in hopes to broaden my view of being a teacher. I was not positive that I wanted to be a teacher but I figured it was worth a try.
It wasn’t until fall semester of 2003 at that I realized why Mr. Stevic had such a passion for being a teacher. I got an assignment to read some chapters for my Introduction to Education class. The beginning of the first chapter made me ask myself whether teaching is truly what I want to do for the rest of my life. At that moment I stopped and thought, if I continue to go through with this, will I feel satisfied that I did not pursue my life long dream? The more I read the chapter the more that question seemed irrelevant.
My second meeting with my Introduction to Education class, my professor began to go over the chapter we were assigned to read. Asking questions and absorbing as much information as possible I noticed the same passion in my professors’ eyes as I had seen in Mr. Stevics’ my senior year of high school. A chill ran through me and I was inspired. I finally realized why I chose this path. I felt it in high school but chose to ignore it and now I can say, “I want to be a teacher!” I get such satisfaction out of being able to say that, not because I hope that I can do it but because I know that I will.
-- Divina Crespo, Florida Atlantic University