FAMILY

I am the oldest of the six kids in our family. We are all close and competitive with ourselves and with each other. My dad, Doug was born and raised in Beloit. He graduated from K-State's College of Veterinary Medicine and married my mom, Beth. They moved back to his hometown so he could work at the vet clinic, mom could teach, and they could raise their family.

Currently, I am 22. I followed in my dad's footsteps by coming to K-State while sharing my mom's passion for education. The next one in the line-up is Luke, 21. He is very similar to my dad with his stereotypical, engineer mindset. Based on his personality, he should have been the oldest in the family. Mason is 19 and decided to study agribusiness in hopes of farming someday. My brothers also call K-State their home. Elle is 16 and is bubbly, beautiful and has a hard work ethic. That leaves the little ones. Dominic is 8 and Kolbe is 6. They have been a huge blessing to our family even through there is a bit of an age gap. We have all grown closer and have shared more laughs because of these incredible little people.

FAITH

My Catholic faith is incredibly important to me. I served on the prayer and action team for the Salina diocese this summer. We spent seven weeks of the summer working with high school kids and their adult sponsors to help improve the towns we were assigned. Each member of my team taught me how to live a greater life, one that will help me reach my full potential as a human being. Also, spending time to know the participants was enlightening and filled me with excitement to we with high school students everyday. Building these relationships was a huge part of my faith journey and I hope to pay it forward for others.

This semester, I am a director for a big retreat put on by St. Isidore's. The pathways retreat is a major commitment of my time, and I am planning to set time aside for it as if it were a part-time job. Balancing my responsibilities with this retreat and schoolwork will be challenging. I will have to be time efficient in order to accomplish my goals as well as eat, sleep and exercise.

TRAVEL

I really love seeing the world. Last May I had the opportunity to walk el camino de Santiago de Compostela. This is traditionally known as the walk of St. James. Back in about 20 AD, St. James walked from Jerusalem to Compostela, Spain where he was a successful missionary. His body is buried in the cathedral at the heart of the city. After his death in 44AD, pilgrims have walked the paths that St. James took as an opportunity for self-understanding or sabbatical. There are several paths that pilgrims take, and we decided to come up from the south. In order to make this pilgrimage, a group of 9 flew to Lisbon, Portugal right after Spring finals week and relished in the beauty of Europe. Before walking, we checked out Lisbon, Fatima, and Porto. Then, putting one foot in front of the other, we walked 120 miles in 8 days. It was incredible to see the Portuguese and Spanish countrysides as we made our way to Santiago de Compostela.

I (too easily) say yes to trips. I love adventure and being outdoors. I also relish in experiences of new art, food, and ways of life. I have been all over the United States, and dabbled in Europe, Mexico, and Israel. I hope to continue traveling because it either offers an appreciation for the way I am able to live, or a way that I can live better.

FOOD

I love food. I love cooking. It's a really great combination. My grandmas and my mom have taught me so much about loving those around you through feeding their appetite. I have a thick binder overflowing with recipes that are tried and true. My mom has two. I think I will be adding on soon enough. I see it an a adventure when I try a new recipe or try to make something that tastes, "just as good as grammys'." My big family (the two big boys) taught me how to cook for large numbers. I was well prepared going into this summer of Prayer and Action because my responsibility was: kitchen duty. I saw the delegation of high schoolers in the kitchen as a challenge to learn classroom management. Each evening we would prepare and provide dinner for anywhere between 40 and 100 hungry people. Believe it or not, I was sentimental during the last dinner prep of the summer. I feel like I give my heart and soul in the kitchen. It is where I feel like I am in my element.

DANCE

When I was little, my mom asked me to choose between gymnastics and dance. I chose the latter. I took dance lessons from kindergarten until senior year in high school. I used it as my escape when I was hitting those teenage years. I could go into the lesson and nothing else mattered, except training my body to move in ways that are not always natural. It was great for me to learn poise, grace, and body awareness. I attribute my abilities in volleyball, basketball, and track to the athleticism I learned in ballet class.

The picture above is from a wedding dance that one of my closest friends and I rocked. Being at college, it can be hard to meet people. Fortunately, I met some of my best friends on the dance floor. My group of people are not always the smoothest dancers. Most of the time I am laughing in the middle of the group because of a funny or weird or awkward dance move. I see dance as an authentic way to express myself. Depending on the night, my friends and I can either be Shakira or Weird Al Yankovich. I laugh as I write this but I would be doing a disservice if you left this page thinking that I am one of the cool kids. ;)

Goals for this class

I am really looking forward to this class. I hope to learn effective teaching strategies and go deeper in my understanding of the content. Currently, I do not feel confident in my understanding and knowledge of the Social studies disciplines. I want to learn more about historical connections and how to teach them, especially to benefit students who do not regard history as useful.

I expect to be challenged. Having professionals listening to our presentations is intimidating to me. There is no reason for this because what I teach should 100% be accurate 100% of the time. I think I will be nervous for the first couple presentations, but it will be good to get over my fear of making mistakes. Furthermore, I appreciate that my work will be held to a high standard. As a result, I am extremely motivated to go 'all in' in order to get the most out of this class. I want to be as prepared as possible before I begin student teaching.

For the class to be worthwhile, I hope my time is respected and used well. I have been in several classes that I only attended because I wrote the check. Otherwise, with all the information posted online, I could have stayed home in my pajamas. That said, I do not worry about that with this class. I appreciate how we will be busy and engaged throughout the class period. If my time spent in colloquium teaches me how to better facilitate knowledge, which I believe will happen, the class will be worthwhile.