Showcasing Me
Job Shadow Report
For my first job shadow, I went down to the Caldwell Public Library and shadowed Lisa Moreland. While I was there I learned how the whole library system worked, how to check books in and out, and many things it took to run the library. After Lisa taught me how to do everything early that morning she soon had me helping every visitor we had that day. Lisa then discussed what all it took to become a librarian and what to expect. Shadowing Lisa was a great opportunity because she also has her degree in early education which is something else I am very interested in.
For my second job shadow, I shadowed Staci Schmidt, the kindergarten teacher at Caldwell Schools. While I was there I helped the kids with their activities throughout the day, did some small tasks for Mrs. Schmidt, and learned their day to day routine. I really enjoyed my day in the kindergarten classroom and getting to connect with all the children.
For my second job shadow, I shadowed Staci Schmidt, the kindergarten teacher at Caldwell Schools. While I was there I helped the kids with their activities throughout the day, did some small tasks for Mrs. Schmidt, and learned their day to day routine. I really enjoyed my day in the kindergarten classroom and getting to connect with all the children.
Carrer Report
Before I started my job as a lifeguard at the local pool I had never really known what I wanted to do with my life. I then realized that I enjoyed being around younger children which is why I am wanting to further my education to become a PreSchool Teacher.
It can take up to as little as two years to receive my associates degree in early education. After that I can then forward my education to receive higher degrees. I have looked into Hutchinson Community College and Butler Community College. At each of these schools I can receive my associates degree and graduate from there and go on to get my bachelors degree. On average both of these colleges cost around the same amount. With Hutchison’s estimated yearly cost being $6736 and Butler’s being $4830.
After college I plan to stay in Kansas or the surrounding area to get a job and start a family. The average median salary for preschool teachers in kansas is between $18.8k to $35.3k annually. In the United States as a whole, the median salary for a preschool teacher is about $19.5 k to $36.5k annually.
It can take up to as little as two years to receive my associates degree in early education. After that I can then forward my education to receive higher degrees. I have looked into Hutchinson Community College and Butler Community College. At each of these schools I can receive my associates degree and graduate from there and go on to get my bachelors degree. On average both of these colleges cost around the same amount. With Hutchison’s estimated yearly cost being $6736 and Butler’s being $4830.
After college I plan to stay in Kansas or the surrounding area to get a job and start a family. The average median salary for preschool teachers in kansas is between $18.8k to $35.3k annually. In the United States as a whole, the median salary for a preschool teacher is about $19.5 k to $36.5k annually.
Reflective Essay
One Shard of Glass at a Time
Sometimes challenges make you fall flat on your face, just like this one did to me. I woke up that morning like it was any other day. I had big plans after school, such as getting ready for prom and meeting about a trip I was going on later in the summer. At this point in my life things were going really great. I was doing well in school and sports, had great friends, and my very first prom was days away. Little did I know, soon everything would take a turn for the worse.
April 3rd started out as any normal day for me would. I woke up and went to school in a fairly decent mood. I was super excited for what the rest of the day had in store for me, including giving blood at the STUCO sponsored blood drive that I donated at my sophomore year. Donating blood definitely was not one of my favorite things to do but it always made me feel better knowing I could be saving someone's life. I really enjoyed getting out of sports practice for that day as well. I had already scheduled an appointment to go with one of my closest friends and filled out my rapid pass so I could skip through all the paperwork when I got there. As the day continued to go on I kept getting more and more nervous until I was finally down there and laying on one of the tables getting ready to start.
As soon as the lady stuck the needle in my arm I felt perfectly fine and just relaxed. As soon as I was done I was feeling just fine, I got escorted over to the canteen to replenish the energy I had lost and wait on my friend who was just starting when I got up. I sat there for about twenty minutes and felt good enough to get up and go talk to my friend. While I was standing there, I noticed my stomach started to feel queasy and I was swaying back and forth. It was very difficult to try to balance. I was getting very worried because I had never felt like this before. All I could think about was not getting sick because the last thing I wanted to happen was to have people make fun of me because I was the kid the threw up or passed out while donating blood. I didn't want to be the kid they had to lay down on the ground until I started to feel better.
As soon as my friend was done donating all I wanted to do was get out of there as soon as possible before anything bad or embarrassing happened. I escorted her over to get something to eat by myself, which probably was not the wisest idea, because what was I supposed to do if something happened to her when I could barely stand by myself? After sitting down with her, things started to get really bad. I was sweating and really hot at one moment and then a few seconds later I had the chills. Everything was very blurry and I could barely see anything. I knew something bad was about to happen. Instead of telling someone who could professionally help me I chose to tell my friend how I was feeling. I specifically told her not to tell anyone, that she needed to get her stuff and drive my car back to the school. The last thing I clearly remember was getting up and started heading towards the door to leave. Soon after that I woke up in a pile of my own blood trying not to choke it up with my best friend standing over my tearing up. I was extremely confused on what was going on. There was so much commotion around me, everyone seemed to be screaming to call 911 and I had no idea why. I thought it was all a dream. It wasn’t supposed to happen to me. I had things that had to be done after school and the worst thing I could think about was what my parents will do.
After laying on my back for a while the workers finally rolled me over on my side to keep me from choking and kept assuring me that everything was going to be okay and they were very sorry this had happened to me. At this point I was still confused about what happened. All I knew was my whole entire head hurt and there was a lot of blood. After laying there for a few minutes holding my friends hand my mom finally showed up and seemed so calm and collected when she walked in. She talked to the workers and found out that EMS was on their way. When they showed up they hooked me up to all these machines to monitor my vitals. After laying there for a while I thought I finally felt good enough and have my mom take me to the emergency room in town. When they tried to sit me up, I passed back out and had to be moved back to the floor. They then decided that they needed to transport me and my mom, so they loaded me up on the stretcher and into the ambulance.
While on our way, my mom called my dad and told him to meet us there and they tried to get an IV into me. They were unable to get one in because my veins collapsed from being too dehydrated. When we arrived at the emergency room my family met me at the back doors. Throughout the whole time I had remained so calm and had not cried at all. That all changed as soon as I saw my dad. After that, I cried about everything.
While at the hospital, they cleaned up my face enough to really try to determine what needed to be done. They glued the more minor cuts on my forehead shut, ran tests, and packed my nose to keep it from bleeding. Finally they decided that I needed to go up to Wichita to be checked out even more and get stitches in my nose. On the ride up, I managed to calm down a whole lot. I realized things were very bad, but they could have been much worse.
After arriving at Wesley, they took me to the pediatric emergency room and I waited to be checked out. After waiting a while the ENT came in and looked at it and told me it wasn’t bad enough that I would need surgery. Soon after that they stitched my nose up, I was able to change out of my bloody clothes and head home. By the time I got home I was starving, it was so difficult to eat or chew anything because any movement of my face hurt. Sleeping wasn’t much easier, I had to sleep on the couch because I wasn’t allowed to lay on my side and had to sleep in an upright position the first few nights. Other challenges were showering and washing my hair. I had to have someone wash it in the sink for me and be careful not to get the glue wet.
The big question was if I would be able to go to prom or not seeing how it was only three days away. We didn’t know if the school or doctors would allow me to go or if I even felt up to it. My parents were more nervous about me not feeling well, but I was worried about people looking at me funny or tiptoeing around me. The day before prom we made the decision that I would be able to go. I was even able to go down and help decorate with my class for a while. The majority of them were super nice and so glad I was okay and able to be there. Whereas a few were rude about it and made fun of me but I decided to turn my head and let it go.
Getting ready for prom was another struggle, I wasn’t able to spray tan my face, put any makeup on my cuts and had to cover my face when my hair was being done to not get any hair spray on it. Prom itself wasn’t as bad until walk in came and I realized I had to walk in front of all those people and have them looking at me. After that everything was okay. When everything from prom was over with, I felt completely normal and fine. I was ready to go back to school and move on with my life. The only other rough part about school was I wasn’t able to participate in sports for a month. This meant I was completely done with track for the year.
To this day I have learned to live and love my scars. They tell a story about what happened once in my life. I’ve had a lot of people tell me they aren't even that noticeable but I still notice them everyday. Mainly the one across the bridge of my nose. Most of the kids at school don’t mention what happened or talk to me about it unless it is in a joking environment. I get more comments from adults than I do people my age. Overall, I have become more outgoing and vocal after this experience. I have mostly overcome my fear of talking in front of crowds or just walking up to random people and striking up a conversation because I am no longer afraid of what people think of me. I have become more involved in school and out of school functions, and even made new friends. Throughout this time, I also realized all the people that truly cared about me. A lot of those people are the people I was afraid would make fun of me.
April 3rd started out as any normal day for me would. I woke up and went to school in a fairly decent mood. I was super excited for what the rest of the day had in store for me, including giving blood at the STUCO sponsored blood drive that I donated at my sophomore year. Donating blood definitely was not one of my favorite things to do but it always made me feel better knowing I could be saving someone's life. I really enjoyed getting out of sports practice for that day as well. I had already scheduled an appointment to go with one of my closest friends and filled out my rapid pass so I could skip through all the paperwork when I got there. As the day continued to go on I kept getting more and more nervous until I was finally down there and laying on one of the tables getting ready to start.
As soon as the lady stuck the needle in my arm I felt perfectly fine and just relaxed. As soon as I was done I was feeling just fine, I got escorted over to the canteen to replenish the energy I had lost and wait on my friend who was just starting when I got up. I sat there for about twenty minutes and felt good enough to get up and go talk to my friend. While I was standing there, I noticed my stomach started to feel queasy and I was swaying back and forth. It was very difficult to try to balance. I was getting very worried because I had never felt like this before. All I could think about was not getting sick because the last thing I wanted to happen was to have people make fun of me because I was the kid the threw up or passed out while donating blood. I didn't want to be the kid they had to lay down on the ground until I started to feel better.
As soon as my friend was done donating all I wanted to do was get out of there as soon as possible before anything bad or embarrassing happened. I escorted her over to get something to eat by myself, which probably was not the wisest idea, because what was I supposed to do if something happened to her when I could barely stand by myself? After sitting down with her, things started to get really bad. I was sweating and really hot at one moment and then a few seconds later I had the chills. Everything was very blurry and I could barely see anything. I knew something bad was about to happen. Instead of telling someone who could professionally help me I chose to tell my friend how I was feeling. I specifically told her not to tell anyone, that she needed to get her stuff and drive my car back to the school. The last thing I clearly remember was getting up and started heading towards the door to leave. Soon after that I woke up in a pile of my own blood trying not to choke it up with my best friend standing over my tearing up. I was extremely confused on what was going on. There was so much commotion around me, everyone seemed to be screaming to call 911 and I had no idea why. I thought it was all a dream. It wasn’t supposed to happen to me. I had things that had to be done after school and the worst thing I could think about was what my parents will do.
After laying on my back for a while the workers finally rolled me over on my side to keep me from choking and kept assuring me that everything was going to be okay and they were very sorry this had happened to me. At this point I was still confused about what happened. All I knew was my whole entire head hurt and there was a lot of blood. After laying there for a few minutes holding my friends hand my mom finally showed up and seemed so calm and collected when she walked in. She talked to the workers and found out that EMS was on their way. When they showed up they hooked me up to all these machines to monitor my vitals. After laying there for a while I thought I finally felt good enough and have my mom take me to the emergency room in town. When they tried to sit me up, I passed back out and had to be moved back to the floor. They then decided that they needed to transport me and my mom, so they loaded me up on the stretcher and into the ambulance.
While on our way, my mom called my dad and told him to meet us there and they tried to get an IV into me. They were unable to get one in because my veins collapsed from being too dehydrated. When we arrived at the emergency room my family met me at the back doors. Throughout the whole time I had remained so calm and had not cried at all. That all changed as soon as I saw my dad. After that, I cried about everything.
While at the hospital, they cleaned up my face enough to really try to determine what needed to be done. They glued the more minor cuts on my forehead shut, ran tests, and packed my nose to keep it from bleeding. Finally they decided that I needed to go up to Wichita to be checked out even more and get stitches in my nose. On the ride up, I managed to calm down a whole lot. I realized things were very bad, but they could have been much worse.
After arriving at Wesley, they took me to the pediatric emergency room and I waited to be checked out. After waiting a while the ENT came in and looked at it and told me it wasn’t bad enough that I would need surgery. Soon after that they stitched my nose up, I was able to change out of my bloody clothes and head home. By the time I got home I was starving, it was so difficult to eat or chew anything because any movement of my face hurt. Sleeping wasn’t much easier, I had to sleep on the couch because I wasn’t allowed to lay on my side and had to sleep in an upright position the first few nights. Other challenges were showering and washing my hair. I had to have someone wash it in the sink for me and be careful not to get the glue wet.
The big question was if I would be able to go to prom or not seeing how it was only three days away. We didn’t know if the school or doctors would allow me to go or if I even felt up to it. My parents were more nervous about me not feeling well, but I was worried about people looking at me funny or tiptoeing around me. The day before prom we made the decision that I would be able to go. I was even able to go down and help decorate with my class for a while. The majority of them were super nice and so glad I was okay and able to be there. Whereas a few were rude about it and made fun of me but I decided to turn my head and let it go.
Getting ready for prom was another struggle, I wasn’t able to spray tan my face, put any makeup on my cuts and had to cover my face when my hair was being done to not get any hair spray on it. Prom itself wasn’t as bad until walk in came and I realized I had to walk in front of all those people and have them looking at me. After that everything was okay. When everything from prom was over with, I felt completely normal and fine. I was ready to go back to school and move on with my life. The only other rough part about school was I wasn’t able to participate in sports for a month. This meant I was completely done with track for the year.
To this day I have learned to live and love my scars. They tell a story about what happened once in my life. I’ve had a lot of people tell me they aren't even that noticeable but I still notice them everyday. Mainly the one across the bridge of my nose. Most of the kids at school don’t mention what happened or talk to me about it unless it is in a joking environment. I get more comments from adults than I do people my age. Overall, I have become more outgoing and vocal after this experience. I have mostly overcome my fear of talking in front of crowds or just walking up to random people and striking up a conversation because I am no longer afraid of what people think of me. I have become more involved in school and out of school functions, and even made new friends. Throughout this time, I also realized all the people that truly cared about me. A lot of those people are the people I was afraid would make fun of me.