Why Penn?

Or rather, why did Penn choose me? Good question. I'm still trying to figure that one out. I'm still praying that I don't receive a letter saying, "Ooops, we made a mistake. There were two people with your name that applied and we accidentally accepted the wrong one." In all seriousness, I'm still a little anxious about being at Penn, but nonetheless, excited to be the Secondary Education Graduate Assistant for the year!

Before I begin, I should probably tell you a little bit about myself. I was born and raised in Vineland, NJ which is about 45 min/ 1 hour drive from Philly. I am of Jamaican heritage and was raised by my grandmother along with a younger sister and many (cough: many) cousins. Seeing the sacrifice of my grandmother, auntie, and many members of my family formed an incredible bond between us. When it came time to select a college for undergrad, I wanted to stay in the northeast so that I could travel home on the weekends. I studied at Yale University in New Haven, CT where I majored in African American Studies and Political Science. I graduated in 2011 and after receiving the Gates Scholarship, I studied at the University of Cambridge in England where I received an M.Phil. in African studies. I just finished that program in June and started the Teacher Education Program at UPenn this past July.

Although I was fairly close to home as an undergraduate, I wasn't close enough. I was constantly homesick. I couldn't go home as much as I wanted to and when I did, my pockets were often crying. In my final undergrad moments, I knew that I wanted to go to a graduate school that was close to home. I love Philadelphia a lot and I knew that it would be fitting for me. From its rich preservation/promotion of African American history in museums and expositions to the (free) community-oriented programming of the city, Philadelphia has a lot to offer people of all ages.  For this reason, I explored many schools in Philly for grad school.

There are a lot of schools in the area that have amazing Education programs, but what drew me to Penn was the rhetoric of teaching beyond the textbook and collaboration within the school community. I must admit, I am still learning what both of those things actually mean, but the concept of teaching with purpose and agency excites me.  I also appreciated GSE's emphasis on perpetual self examination and improvement. To me, it seemed as if GSE wants aspiring teachers to be the best teachers that they could possibly be.

I must say that so far, things have been great. For the most part, I am enjoying the program and am definitely enjoying the program. There are some tiny qualms I have at the moment, but so far, things are good. Like life, no situation, place, or program will ever be perfect, especially when subjective eyes like mine are in charge of evaluating. For this reason, I hope to use this blog as a medium to express myself and reflect on my experience at Penn, in Philly, and as an aspiring teacher.

:)