First quarter final reflection, December 2015.      

Coming into this quarter I was nervous about what the coursework would look and feel like and how I was going to balance our busy home life with a full school schedule. I was so scared that a week before the program started I told my husband that I was going to take a year off and focus on our family and would reapply to the program next Spring. After some serious consideration, I decided that I had worked too hard to get to this point and to give up before I had even started. I’m so glad that I decided against taking a break. This quarter was harder than I imagined it would be due to my taking a statistics class in addition to my ISS core classes, and also as we worked through transitioning our daughter to kindergarten and our son, to preschool. That being said, I think the struggle made completing this quarter even more fulfilling.

The process of developing my portfolio has been enlightening. I enjoyed how interconnected the videos and coursework in ISS 301 were with building our portfolio in 350 and feel that each little step gave me a greater understanding of what to expect throughout the remainder of the program, and also helped me to pinpoint exactly where my interests lie and helped me identify where I might like to take that interest in the future. It was inspiring to see the passion that each faculty member brought to their course and the program. Every course sounds amazing and I want to take them all. After having watched all the videos and developed my education plan I realized that I’m not going to be able to take all the courses I would like to and I’m hoping that there will be a Master’s program available online someday soon so I can continue my studies after I complete this program. 

I think what surprised me the most was how interconnected my portfolio entries were, even though that was never my intention. I knew coming into the program that I was somewhat passionate about studying race, gender, and education inequality, but I had no idea how much inequality would be a theme throughout my portfolio evolution. It is only now that I realize that almost every entry had something to do with inequality. From my artifact regarding the troubles the local Native American tribe was experiencing with our city officials, to each one of my keywords. It was certainly not something I set out to accomplish so I am still shocked at how it all came together. This realization has me thinking more deeply about what it all means, how I fit into it all, and how I’m going to address my concerns to make a difference in my community. I feel that I am looking at the world through new eyes. I’ve been analyzing everything from current politics to the educational experience of children in our immediate community as well as children around our nation. Sometimes this knowledge overwhelms me because there is so much more that I want to know and so much that I want to do to make this world a better place. I’m hoping that this experience will continue to push me in the right direction where I can utilize my knowledge to be an advocate for those who need it most. I appreciate all the amazing feedback I’ve received thus far from both the faculty and my peers. I feel that it helped me to grow academically and personally.