As an educated person, I feel responsible to educate and influence others just as my teachers and mentors have done for me. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” The writing of Luke is a standard by which I attempt to live. As a young girl, I had a speech problem. My language did not begin to emerge until I was all past two. Once the language emerged, I struggled with articulation. I couldn’t pronunciate the sounds for the letters “s” and “r.” Fortunately, my mother is an educator. While many thought my speech was cute and endearing, my mother recognized the detriment a speech impairment can be later in life. Therefore, she advocated for me to receive speech therapy services through the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). After struggling through speech therapy for two years, my dedicated and determined teacher had worked a miracle. After a long and hard journey, I could finally speak correctly.
In the fall of 2016, I will begin pursuing my dream of being a speech pathologist and minoring in Spanish. Because Mrs. Sorters, my speech teacher, believed in me and made a difference in my life, I feel the same responsibility to get an education so that I can give back and make a difference for people in my future.
I also would be able to help parents, especially those with limited English skills, understand their rights under IDEA for their children to receive related services through public schools. Our public schools are filled with educators who have dedicated their lives to advocating for children and families. My degree will help me continue to do that for others, just as my speech teacher did for me.
Over the course of the past two years, I struggled with feeling purposelessness. During this time in my life, I have been able to take care of a young man who suffers from intellectual and developmental disabilities. He is an intelligent and caring young man who loves his life tremendously, but often gets so frustrated because he can’t communicate well with others. He loves to interact with others. Family and close friends understand him most of the time, but when other people do not understand him, he becomes very aggravated. Imagine not being able to communicate wants and needs. Life would be challenging. Through the care taking of Marcus, I realized that I have a purpose, an extraordinary purpose that I am meant to fulfill. My dreams began to fall into place and I knew in those moments with Marcus, that I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives to help them communicate better just like Mrs. Sorters did for me.
As a young child of a single parent, I spent many hours at my mother’s middle school building waiting for her to finish work. During that time period, I had the opportunity to get to know a student who would later teach me much about myself, become a friend, and help guide me toward my career goal.
After spending time with Marcus and his sister, who is one of my friends, his family began asking me to watch him from time to time for short periods of time. That would later evolve into keeping him evenings, picking him after school some days, and even keeping him for an entire week while his family was on an extended vacation.
When I began picking Marcus up after school, I took him on age appropriate social outings such as going to after school activities and sporting events. After picking Marcus up from school for a period of time, his parents asked me to keep him for one week. I stayed with him over spring break when his family was out of the state and his brother was out of the country. During that week I was responsible for his care. I took the initiative to get my state champion cheerleading team to cheer for his Special Olympics team in the state championship. I spend most lunch days encouraging Marcus to join the social aspects and activities of the school lunch period. Most recently, I successfully campaigned for his election by the entire senior class to represent us as our homecoming king.
Marcus has taught me so much about my self. He is constantly seeking joy and happiness in the simple parts of life. Marcus is always trying to make others happy through his gift of laughter and entertaining others. I have learned when I give my time and attention to him, I am the one receiving the bigger blessing. Ultimately Marcus has taught me to be compassionate and to look for ways to serve others.
Through the care taking of Marcus and the relationship that has grown, I have discovered that my talents and passions involve working with special needs people. Therefore, when I enroll in college next fall, I plan to major in communication disorders followed by a graduate study in speech and language pathology in order to work in a therapeutic setting with special needs people.
There are lessons in life that cannot be taught within the confines of a classroom. For me, the lessons I have learned from Marcus are those that have impacted both my heart and my mind. I will forever be motivated by this unique friend.
When I come to the University of Arkansas in the fall, I will begin my post secondary education and begin my second stop on the journey to fulfilling my dream. I am so excited to see what the future holds for me as an educated person. I cannot wait to fulfill my societal responsibilities as an educated person to make a difference in order to help people better themselves.