When I originally started out at St. Edward’s I knew that I wanted to do something with English, but I wasn’t entirely sure what form that would take. I played with the idea of having a literature major with a creative writing minor before I finally settled on secondary education.

Through my time at St. Edward’s I went through two internships in Del Valle ISD. The first one was at Ojeda Middle School in an seventh grade writing workshop classroom. I loved working at Ojeda; it opened my eyes toward teaching middle school, which I had never considered before.

My second internship was at Del Valle High School in an AP classroom, which was just as eye-opening. It made me realize that everything I had thought about teaching in a high school was very wrong; but that is exactly what internships are meant to do: illustrate where you want to be with your career.

Without my internships, I would not have been hired by Del Valle ISD or have discovered my passion for teaching my wonderful, amazing eighth grade students.

St. Edward’s did more than just help me find a solid career through internships. For me, the best part of St. Edward’s was the community of friends—the family—I made through my organizations. Through the groups that I joined on campus, I was able to spend four years setting up my life and the people that I wanted to keep around.

Through two main organizations, Wizards and Wookies—the science fiction fantasy organization—and the Madrigals choir, I made friends that are still a major part of my life.

The friends I made were the support beam that I needed my senior year of college when I started to get the side of senioritis that no one talks about, the fear of having to be an adult.