Growing up, I was always unsure about what my future might hold. My parents always encouraged me to find something I was passionate about then find a way to make a career out of it. Both my mother and my father hold graduate degrees in their fields of study. My father, a total biology nerd, found a way to incorporate his love for biology and the way the body works into his career. He worked in the medical field for over twenty years and it was always clear to me that he loved his job at the hospital and the people he worked with. When I began looking into different fields as a senior in high school, I decided to follow in my mother’s footsteps as an accountant. Even though I had never taken an accounting class, I saw incredible benefits of becoming an accountant. Along with the stable income, job security, and the opportunity for advancement, I saw the flexibility my mother had in her working hours. While I was young, she worked part time and was always present at school parties, musicals, and after school activities. The more I looked into starting salaries and job placement rates from the Ole Miss School of Accountancy, the more appealing a career in accounting became. And so I began my first year of college, determined to become an accountant just like my mom.
The summer after my freshman year I was hired to work as a counselor at a summer camp in Branson, Missouri. The six weeks I spent at Kanakuk literally changed my life. I realized that I absolutely love kids. I finally, after 19 years, found what I was passionate about. When I finished at Kanakuk and moved back to Oxford I realized that accounting was not for me. Halfway through my sophomore year I changed my major from accounting to education. My outlook on classes changed completely. Rather than the business classes that I dreaded, I was enrolled in history classes that I enjoyed attending.
I would have never fallen in love with history if it weren’t for my US History teacher, Mrs. Tullos. Her goal as a teacher was to prepare us for life, sneaking in a little bit of history here and there. She wanted to teach us how to be successful students in the future, so she ordered college textbooks and treated us like college students. She lectured about different topics, but expected us to read the chapters and be prepared for discussions and quizzes based on the readings. Mrs. Tullos also wanted to prepare us for life outside of school. We discussed what being a citizen of the United States means, and the responsibilities of being an American. She also taught us life lessons that we could take with us beyond high school in college. I learned more in her class than I have from any college professor. She not only inspired a love for history, but she taught me about the real world.
“Social Studies” is the study of people groups, past and present, and how they interact with one another and the world around them. It is how people respond to world events and behave as citizens of a state or nation. Social studies include lessons on citizenship and civic duties as well as economics and geography.
Even though my change in major will result in a significantly smaller salary, I know I will be happy. As a teacher I want to show my students the importance of these lessons and teach them how to apply these ideas and concepts to daily life. I want to be active in the lives of students, not only in the classroom, but also in the local community and extra-curricular activities. Hopefully, I will be able to invest in my students the way Mrs. Tullos invested in me.
