New Beginnings

So... I've been in college since August 2006. At first, when I applied, I thought I wanted to be a nurse. That dream quickly came to an end in my senior year of high school when I was in a care partner program and had clinicals at the nursing home. It was just for 6 hours, one day out of my life. and I couldnt do it... There was just something about bathing and changing an elderly woman's diaper that I couldnt do. There was more to it than that but that was about the jist of it.

So I quickly decided that when I came to college, at good ol' Old Dominion.. that I wanted to be a teacher. I've been at it since 2006 and all of a sudden, those plans are changing. Its not that I dont want to be a teacher, because I really would love to.. its just it's not happening for me. It's not in God's plans for me I guess. I'm supposed to graduate next May and then start Grad School the following August. Or at least that was the plan. But yet, I'm not gonna get there. I need to have a 2.8 gpa to declare my major. and pass my Praxis test with flying colors (and note: its expensive). and I need to be accepted into the Teacher Education Services (basically the teaching program..). I need to have all of these in order to take my Practicum class. In and in order to get into the TES program, I need to have the gpa and praxis test scores. Soooo it basically all adds up together. Only problem is...... I have a 2.68 gpa. My Praxis scores are like 4 points below what they need to be. So I need to take it again. AND in order to get my gpa up, I basically need to have straight A's. Which isn't going to happen. Not that I don't want it to or that I don't have high hopes for myself... it's just that in college, I'm not an A/B student like I was in high school. I'm a B/C student. But that's not good enough for the teaching program.

I completely understand you need the best of the best for teachers. But I feel that as long as I know the material, it should be good enough. Not everyone is a brainiac. I feel like I'm just pursuing something that I can't get to. Ultimately I would need to have all those requirements by the end of the summer, at the lastest, but the end of the year in order to graduate next May. Seeing how that's not going to happen.............. I've decided to change my major. Dun Dun Dun....... Not because I'm giving up, or because it's "not what I want to do anymore" but because I need to do whats best for myself. I need to have goals that are reachable, not dreams.

I'm going to switch to Human Services. If I need a minor, it will be Sociology with an emphasis on Social Welfare. It will only set me back about a semester. So I'd graduate in December 2011 instead of May. But I wouldnt have to go to grad school! I would like to eventually work with adoption, foster care, social services, etc. Basically I still want to help kids, just in different ways. Who knows, maybe I can use my knowledge from my teaching courses to help in my new career path. Like Amber said, if I'm this far along and to want to switch, I need to pursue it. So now, its just a waiting game. I've emailed the department on how to go about switching over. Just waiting on their response..

The only big questions of course will be: will I have a job once I graduate??? Who knows. But thats a risk I'm willing to take <3.