Many educators can pinpoint the moment they decided to become teachers. That moment usually corresponds with an exceptional teacher that guided them into the teaching career field. However, for me, the path toward education is slightly different. I always new that I loved helping people and helping them to succeed. My decision to become a teacher corresponded with a much different life changing moment, the birth of my daughter.
For most of my adolescence and young adult life, I was consumed with the idea that money mattered most. I was certain that I could find a job, working with and helping people where I would get paid well. I also wanted to find a job that I could incorporate my other passion, sea animals. Growing up in Iowa, I did not have contact with animals found in the oceans, save the zoo. Maybe it was the lack of exposure that fueled my love for sea animals, primarily whales. Whenever I got the chance to see them or learn about them, I was glued to the instructor or book. I just couldn’t seem to get enough.
When I graduated high school, I wanted to become a marine biologist. However, reality set in as well as my idea that money mattered most. I knew that biologists did not make the big bucks, so when I got to college and signed up for my classes, I chose a major that would allow me to have financial security. My initial three years in college proved to be education in more ways than one. I learned first and foremost that I did not know myself as I was jumping for one major to another. I was not happy with and of my choices for major as I continued through school.
Determined I needed to step back from my educational roller coaster and get some perspective, I joined the United States Air Force. While many still do not understand my reasoning, I know it was the best decision of my life so far. I needed to have time to get reacquainted with myself, find out what I was passionate about, what did I want to do for the rest of my life. Living in the Air Force also showed me that while the management of my money was important, the presence of a lot of money was not necessary to make me happy.
Determined I needed to step back from my educational roller coaster and get some perspective, I joined the United States Air Force. While many still do not understand my reasoning, I know it was the best decision of my life so far. I needed to have time to get reacquainted with myself, find out what I was passionate about, what did I want to do for the rest of my life. Living in the Air Force also showed me that while the management of my money was important, the presence of a lot of money was not necessary to make me happy.
After a few years of reflection, I decided to go back to my original plan of becoming a biologist. Still living in the Midwest, I decided that focusing on marine life would not be practical or available at that point in time. I remembered how much I loved science and knew that returning to that career field would make me happy. After taking a few classes in biology, I knew that I had made the right decision to return to biology. I did not, at the time, know what area that I wanted to focus on, but knew that through study, I would find it.
I soon had the opportunity to move to south Florida and focus my studies on marine life in an educational setting that would allow it. I had found my niche. I would be able to study and work with marine animals, specifically whales, which I had been fascinated by since I was a child. I wanted to not only study them, but to possibly train them and to introduce children to them to get the children interested and passionate about something new.
This is when my life-changing event occurred. With only a year left on my degree I had my daughter and began to reassess my goals and dreams for my career and life. I wanted to provide my daughter with everything she could ever want and knew that if I finished with my marine biology degree and went into research, our time together may be severely limited. Also, I began thinking about her future, specifically her educational future. I knew the status of the American education system was in dire need of qualified teachers that had a passion for their work. I had teachers throughout my educational career that I admired who had not only made the class interesting, but who also were passionate about their work. Unfortunately, I also had teachers that were not so concerned with whether or not I enjoyed the class while learning the material. I wanted my daughter to have an abundance of teachers that not only loved their work, but also knew their subject material inside and out. The job of a teacher is not just to educate, but also to assist in the molding of our next generation and I wanted to ensure that my daughter received the best the education system had to offer.
I am unsure as to why my teachers did not talk to me about pursuing a teaching career, but I am not sure if I would have listened at that point in my life. At that point in my life I was focused on my love of science and my desire for a more productive life, financially, than with which I had grown up. Fortunately, as time passed, while my dreams and passions remained the same, my financial desires were replaced with family and life desires. I just wish that even one of my teachers had taken the time to talk with me about my desires and how they could and would change over the course of my life.
Hypothesizing about my career options, I remembered that when I was younger, I had taught swimming lessons for a few years and had loved it. Teaching the children something new or refining skills they already possessed and trying to pass on to them some of my passion for the topic. So I decided to return to something I had always enjoyed, helping people and specifically, teaching young people. This career choice would allow me to not only assist in the upgrade of our American educational system, but also spend quality time with my daughter. By entering the teaching force, I would be able to show my daughter that there are many things in life that seem to be very important, it is more important to find something you love to do and do it.
I want my daughter, and my students, to know that it is not only money that makes the world go-round. I want to teach them not only about science, but also about life. Through my many years of changing majors, I learned many valuable lessons. I learned it is important to find a dream and go after it, no matter what. I learned that no matter what the television and movie industries say, money is not everything. I learned that the future of our great society is the hands of our children and if we don’t educate them well, we will all be in serious trouble. I learned that it is important to be passionate about something and to share that passion with others, for it may allow them and you to learn something new. I want to pass on this knowledge to my students as well as my daughter. I want to feel that I have contributed in a positive way to our society and I truly believe that sharing my knowledge with the next generation would be the most logical choice. I want to share my passion of learning and of animals and the knowledge I have gained through life experiences with others.
-- Stephanie Gilli, Florida Atlantic University