This has been my 2nd semester as a student at the University of Utah. It started out rough, but ended at a very high note. My job as a PE Paraprofessional at Indian Hills became more of a rocky road than last semester. I was considering toughing the year out and than requesting a different job, despite how tough of a job it was while being a full time college student, but it just ended up not working out so well.
That moment led me to the best decision I made since moving to Salt Lake City. I got moved to Hillside Middle School as a severe paraprofessional. The same kind of job I had in St. George at Snow Canyon High School. My job at Hillside so far has been as great as it could get for this point in my life. I feel the teacher I work for is very supportive of my college education; which is one thing I did not feel much of working at Indian Hills, although I have to mention a few teachers who helped me through the tough times there-Tara Black, Susan Decker, and Ann Melville. Also, more importantly, I don't feel pressured to be perfect at the position. When I was working as a PE Paraprofessional, I felt too often like I was expected to know how to be a PE teacher, despite no prior experience and only 6 hours of training. My principle and the teachers at Hillside seem more understanding that I am learning as I go, which I have appreciated much. Also they do a good job at helping me feel appreciated. Overall, they just seem much more flexible and willing to do what it takes to further me into my goal of being a severe special education teacher.
Outside of work, many other great things happened this semester. I got to make some great new friends. One friend, I met in my Research and Inquiry course whose name is Colter. We started simply as study partners, but as the semester furthered through, we eventually became good pals. Especially when we had one conversation that literally dragged on for 4 hours straight just sitting on a bench in Presidents Circle. Him and I plan on doing some fun stuff this summer break.
Another notable friend I made, I met through Xbox live admittedly. However, that has not devalued how we became friends. He prefers to be "incognito" so I won't mention his name online. Some fun stuff we have done is seeing Hemlock live at the Royal Bar and Grill. Also he has trained me well in the art of the Sun Singer Warlock in Destiny. We plan to see Hemlock again when they go to Mt. Pleasant so that should be tons of fun. Not a bad friendship if you ask me, at least for one that met through online video gaming. LOL
Some other fun things I have done this semester was going to a Jazz vs Spurs game with my Dad, seeing Killswitch Engage in concert and meeting WWE Hall of Famer, Mick Foley in person!The last thing I would like to mention in this post is how I have felt about myself this semester. I feel like this was the first semester I truly felt comfortable being myself. As many of my close friends know, I have gone through many changes in philosophy and views of life. What I believe now is not the same as when I was a high school student. It was difficult at first, but overtime I feel I found my niche again, and I have been able to develop some new and great relationships. I think moving to Salt Lake helped me with this more than anything. Moving to a new city has allowed me to start a new life. I did not have to worry about surprising anybody because not many people knew me yet. I got to start fresh up here and that relieved a lot of pressure on freely going through life the way I felt was best for me.
By the looks of it, I should have my bachelors degree within 2 more years. I am very excited to continue progressing toward my goals. I am very grateful to have many great friends and supporters. Thanks for following!
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