My Final Post of the Semester!!!

I truly cannot believe that this is my last post of the semester! As I mentioned in my last post, I have learned so much between observing and my classes! I also very much enjoyed spending time with all of my friends this semester and I was able to travel to many places and experience many new things! Today I took three of my finals and I also have three more to take, but then I am done with exams on Thursday!! After two more nights of studying, I will finally get to relax! I wanted to thank everyone for helping me throughout the semester and I cannot wait to see you all again in the fall!!!

Reality Check!!

I honestly cannot believe that today is the last day of classes! This semester has flew by so fast, but it has definitely been an eventful semester! This semester I have met so many great people, I have got to work with so many excellent teachers and students, and I have completed many, MANY assignments. I always get sad at this time of year because I am going to miss all of my friends from Caldwell who live very far away, but I am excited to see some of my friends from high school and go on vacation! Also, I am working at Camp Hope again this summer and I am extremely excited! It is so rewarding to work with these special needs children and young adults each day! Although the days are long and each of the campers have their own bad days once in a while, I do go to my job each excited about seeing the campers! I hope everyone has a wonderful summer! I look forward to seeing everyone in the fall!!! :)

The Beginning of the End!

I cannot believe this is the last week of classes! Before the beginning of this week, I had a crazy weekend! I had a tons of papers to do this weekend, and my laptop began to give me problems, hence why I could not post on my blog until today! Thursday night I had a ton of work to submit online, so I did not hang out with my friends, but instead I stayed home the night doing homework. Then, on Friday, I spent the entire day completing a reserach paper! But, Friday night was great because I went with all of my friends and my boyfriend to Caldwell's Spring Formal. It was a lot of fun and it was a great way for all of us to de-stress because we have been so swamped with work! On Saturday, I went to Caldwell Fest and worked a table for CCEA. It was a lot of fun because all of my friends were there and there was a ton of great food and fun activities. Saturday night, I went out to dinner with my family, and on Sunday, I spent the entire day doing homework yet again.

I have my final papers due for all of my classes this week and then it's on to finals week! Hopefully, my finals will not be too hard, but I plan on making the most of the rest of this week with my friends. Although this has been a very stressful semester, it has been very rewarding in the sense that I have had great professors and I did get to spend a lot of time with my wonderful friends. I am looking forward to a very relaxing summer and hopefully a exciting semester in the fall as well!! 

My boyfriend and I at formal!

The lovely group of ladies!

Kristin and I at Caldwell Fest!

Inspiring People!

Yesterday I had a great experience with some very inspiring people! Meghan, the coordinator of Campus Ministry here at Caldwell, approached me and some other members of campus ministry at lunch the other day and told us about a new program Caldwell is going to begin. Horizon School, which is a school in Livingston for students with cerebral palsy, wants to begin a program with Caldwell College so that some of their students are able to understand what college is truly like. Yesterday, four students from Horizon came to Caldwell and we gave them a tour of the college and had lunch with them. It was a really great experience because although some of the students at Horizon have mental or physical disabilities, they are truly inspiring because they have such a positive outlook on life!

I was really happy to be able to be a part of this experience because lately, my education classes have been becoming very difficult and I am nervous about the future. But when I was showing Caldwell to the students from Horizon, I realized how blessed I would be to work with students like the students I worked with from Horizon each day. Hopefully, my education classes will become easier over time. But I know that being a teacher is what I truly want to do, so all of my effort in my classes is worth it!

5K Weekend!!!

Hi everyone! So this has been a very interesting week! I was so excited because for the first time, I was able to register for all of my classes without a problem!!! Even though I had to run around campus and get many different signatures in order for this to happen, it worked out well! I am excited because this Saturday is the 5K run for the Autism and ABA Center on campus! This is one of my favorite events of the year!! My favorite part of the event is the fun run that is at the beginning of the event for the children to run! It is great to see them also participate in the run! This year, CCEA is also having a sand art table, which will be a lot of fun!!! Helping students and children with special needs is something very close to my heart and that is why I love the 5K so much and why I think it is so important! So far, the Autism center has raised a lot of money to use for the center through the run and hopefully more people will register that day! Hopefully everything goes well!!

Planning for the Future!

It's that time of year again - registration! Ever since my freshman year at Caldwell, registration has always been the most stressful time of the year! I feel like because it is going to be the beginning of my junior year in the fall, I am now under a lot of pressure to finish taking all of my required classes! A lot of people told me it is impossible to finish studying elementary education, special education, and English within four years, but I am going to try my best!!! Next semester, I have decided to take nineteen credits, including a biology class and a scholars course, so I am extremely nervous! I will also be observing a lot next semester so I made sure that I will have Fridays off. I also thought about taking summer classes, but they are extremely expensive! Also, this will be my sixth summer at the camp I work at with special needs children and young adults and I cannot imagine not working there in the summer. It is such a rewarding experience and I love working with all of the campers! At this point, I am keeping positive! Choosing classes is always stressful, but I am sure it will all work in the end! All I can do is plan as much as possible and hope for the best! :)

Spring Fun!!

I have been extremely busy during these couple of days that we have had off for Easter break! On Thursday, our first day off, my brother and I went shopping for our mom and dad to buy things to put in their Easter baskets! On Friday, a local youth group that I help with on the weekends reinacted the Living Stations. It was a lot of fun because we had practiced the Living Stations for several weeks now and it was great to see their final performance! Many people were so pleased with the reinactment and this made the students very happy!! On Saturday, I spent the day with a friend of mine and at night, my family went to the Easter Vigil at our church! The Easter Vigil is always one of my favorite masses during the year and it was still beautiful this year with the choir and all of the people who attended the mass! On Sunday, my family came over to my house for a ham dinner that my mom worked hard all day to prepare! It was so much fun to spend time with my cousins and to catch up on what each of us are up to!

The Easter eggs my family dyed!

My cousins and I at Easter dinner!

My brother and I Easter morning!

This whole Easter week,  I have realized how blessed I am to be surrounded by such wonderful people in my life. Between the reinactment of the Living Stations, the Easter Vigil, and spending time with my family, I realized that the most inspiring people are the people that surround you everyday. At the Easter Vigil on Saturday, the priest spoke about how it is so important to help others because Jesus devotes his life to helping other people. During the forty days of Lent, I tried to help a person each day, and in many ways, I saw this happen. But I think that I will continue this idea even after Lent and Easter and try to help people as much as possible each and every day.