Don't Pump the Brakes

     During the commencement ceremony at my graduation from Marist, our guest speaker Chuck Todd talked about taking risks and opportunities and offered some other great advice along the way. One of the lines that stuck out to me the most was when Mr. Todd said that, “now’s the time to travel the world; because if you don’t do it now, it will be harder later. I didn’t get to Europe until my late thirties. That’s a regret.”  I started to think about that, and although I was very fortunate to have had many once-in-a-lifetime experiences during my college career, one that I hadn’t was studying abroad and going to Europe. Coinciding with this speech was the fact that some of my best friends from college were studying in Florence for the fall semester. After giving it much thought, the decision was easy: I had to go to Europe while I had the chance. My first international flight      Fast-forward to the first week of November, and I was off to Europe for the first time

     After spending years in different classrooms observing, student teaching, tutoring and volunteering , I was both very anxious and excited to actually have a class of my own this year. Last week signaled the end of the first marking period; what an interesting first quarter it has been. One of my students working on a problem at the board      A week before school started, I finally received the keys to my classroom. When I walked in for the first time, the room was nothing like I had envisioned at all. I had six desks in my class, there was graffiti on all of the walls, everything was dirty, and to say I was disappointed would be an understatement. But it the midst of all the ruble, I saw the layout of a great classroom. I knew I only had a few days before school started, so I got to work right away trying to make the best classroom with the materials I had. I started by throwing away all of the broken furniture, ripped posters and frog dissection kits (you read

     I just got back from Washington D.C. with the East Side High School Student Council. After being surrounded by 9 th graders for the first seven weeks of school, it was very different being with the brightest 11 th and 12 th graders East Side has to offer. When I was first asked to chaperone the overnight trip to our nation’s capitol, I was so excited, as I really enjoy the D.C. area and  I have been involved with student government for as long as I can remember . I expected to have a great time touring Georgetown and American University and all of the historical artifacts in D.C. What I did not expect, however, was just how powerful these two days were going to be. Students waiting outside the 4D movie at the Newseum      I first want to mention how appreciative the entire group was from when we first boarded the bus until we got home. From going to the 4D movie at the Newseum to the many rounds of candy given out on the bus, everything we did was greeted w