The wait is on....

From the Star

My internship ended. Summer started. I was so excited. It was finally time to start looking for a real job... or so I thought. I turned in lots of resumes and just chilled - lived the life of not working while waiting for one of the schools to call me and offer me a job! Of course, "living the life" is very short lived when you run out of money. Little did I know that seven schools in my county had closed and they had to place the 200 teachers who had lost their jobs before they could consider new hires for interviews. Lucky me! I just happened to be one of those new hires. Not only were they placing all those teachers first but there had been so many budget cuts that no teachers were leaving and the jobs just weren’t opening. I was devastated, stressed and on the verge of being a crazy lady. I’m pretty sure that I called my mom every day and asked, "So what am I supposed to do now? I have applied for every job imaginable and No ONE IS CALLING ME." My mom, of course, the calm lady just said, “Relax - it'll all work out.” And I kept saying, “Yeah sure. Whatever you say, but you’re not going to be happy when you are still supporting me!” and she would just repeat “It will all work out.”

As the days went by and still no calls I started to get desperate I started to apply for jobs that I didn’t really want and jobs that were over an hour drive. Finally an interview came and I nailed it (with all the good advice of my mother) and I got the job. This is when everything got super stressful. Not only was this job an hour away from my house but, I was not sure that I could handle this as my first teaching assignment - not to mention, my dad is saying, "TAKE THE JOB!" and my boyfriend is saying, "TAKE THE JOB!" My mom was saying that the job was not a good first year job because there was not enough support. I felt like one of those cartoon characters where the devil is on one side and the angel is on the other side and you’re suppose to make a choice that could change your life forever. I was so undecided so I took a night to think about it and I prayed. I prayed that I would wake up and know exactly what to do. Sure enough that is exactly what happened. I woke up and knew that the job was not the right fit for me. To my amazement the next day I got two calls for interviews - with only 2 days before teachers were supposed to start. Just imagine how I was feeling!

My first interview that next day was at 8:00am. I woke up, felt confident and walked into the interview. The Principal and Vice Principal that were interviewing me were delightful and gave me the chance to really be myself. I had not felt this way in any other interviews. Before I had felt more like I was a college student in a Master’s Comprehension exam being quizzed on everything that I had ever learned. I don’t know about you, but for me, it is kind of hard to be myself when I feel like I am under pressure and about to throw up. But at this interview I knew that this was where I wanted to be. I loved the Principals and I loved the school, so I didn’t even care about what grade I was teaching. As I left I was pretty confident that I had gotten the job and I was so deliriously happy! That afternoon I got a call telling me that I had the job. I even forgot to ask what grade I was teaching. This is where the stress of getting a job ended and the journey of being a teacher began.