Education, etc.

Monday will mark the beginning of my 19^th year in the classroom, but my first out of our hometown. For many reasons, it was time for me to “go to grow.” So, after many conversations with my family, a lot of prayers, and a lot of research, we packed up our home, put our house on the market, rented a house 5+ hours away from most of our family, and decided to take a huge chance.

But this is not the first time I have taken a huge leap of faith, stepped out, trusted what I was told, and took the chance. It is, however, the first time that leap of faith has risked upsetting the delicate apple cart of my children and meant Mike would leave the job (and vested retirement) he had for the last 10 years. We said goodbye to friends and colleagues, packed up our lives, and stepped out on faith. As someone in my new leadership said, we are trusting [them] with a huge leap of faith.

Let me back up. Last spring, I decided it was time to put my leadership certification to use and investigated some leadership opportunities. My prayer throughout this search was, “God, put me where you need me to be.” Those local to our hometown were not meant to be, so I considered some in South Carolina, near my brothers. I also had a phone call about a position in Gwinnett County. I immediately said I was not moving to Gwinnett County, I was not interested in a lateral move, if I were going to leave my alma mater, it would be to move up. I received a phone call from my now new principal, offering an interview. I said I would speak to my family. I did, still saying that we were not moving to Gwinnett County, but accepted the interview, deciding it would be good practice, having not interviewed in 8 years, and considering I had interviews coming up in South Carolina.

I had a remote interview while in South Carolina with my now principal, assistant principal, and department head. I liked them. In fact, I liked them more than I wanted to. I liked what they were saying about their school, the program I would be teaching in, and how they supported teachers and students. I was offered the position before the end of the interview and invited to spend a day at the school. When Mike asked how it went, I said, “They offered me the job, but it doesn’t matter, [laughing] we’re not moving to Gwinnett County.” At the risk of sounding impolite, my other interviews during the week left me feeling like something was missing, it was not a good fit, or the logistics were just not feasible. We drove home from South Carolina wondering what would be best for our family. Mike suggested I spend the day at the school in Gwinnett County, that I owed it to them and to myself to see the school in person before I decided on the offer. I did and I loved what I saw. So did Mike and Thing 2 (who wishes not to be named), and at the end of the day, I accepted the job, and we began planning our move to Gwinnett County.

I thought about what my long term mentor would say to me if she were still here. I have no doubt she would be proud that I was taking a leap of faith and moving into a position were there are more opportunities for everyone in my family. Even our parents have been happy for us, requesting only that we have a place for them to sleep when they come to visit. We quickly found a place to land and got Thing 2 enrolled in his new school with some help. Mike and Thing 1 (who also wishes not to be named) have options that we are exploring, having been here, in Gwinnett County, for only 5 weeks.

My goals for this school year remain the same: to keep my students safe, to make sure they know I support them and their learning, and to teach them to the best of my ability. We are all looking forward to new adventures in our new home, all because we were willing to step out on faith. However, in the same spirit of “we are not moving to Gwinnett County,” I am also claiming that I will not have an all expenses paid vacation to Fiji for 3 weeks and my family can visit the middle week. You know, just in case.

I am excited to teach a diverse group of students, to attend festivals, and try foods I will ask them to suggest. Thing 2 is already talking about different extracurricular activities he wants to get involved in. He misses his friends, just like we all do, but I am confident he will make new ones, as we all will.

I have done a lot of stress baking through pre-planning, but I feel good about Monday. Every school year is a leap of faith in its own way with some years being bigger than others. No leap will ever be as big as my first one. With no education experience, no training to fall back on, I walked into a high school classroom and gave it my best. And it was not a bad year. I still have contact with a few of my successes from that year, even if they did sing a song about not wanting to come to my class. Some years were better than others. Some years were just outright hard. But like thousands of others, I answered the call to the classroom, and I work to get better every year.

This year I had to go to grow. This leap was the biggest one, yet. But, as the sayings go: no risk, no reward; nothing ventured, nothing gained; no pain, no gain; and my favorite, go big or go home! Only going home is not an option. Our house closes in under 2 weeks. I have signed a contract for the 25-26 school year. We have a 12 month lease. Thing 2 is enrolled in school and planning to be involved in extracurricular activities. We know Thing 1 will have wonderful opportunities that he would not have gotten without us moving. We are here, investing in the community, finding a church home, we are here to stay. We stepped out on faith, and we are planted where we landed, waiting to grow and bloom in our new place we call home.