Reflections of...the Way Life Used to Be
By Patricia Monroe
I cannot believe I am nearly done with my master’s degree. I feel like I have come so far and that this program has exceeded the expectations I had anticipated it having. It is amazing looking back and reading through my original goal statement for the application process to get into Michigan State’s master’s program and seeing how much it has changed. Throughout these past 2 years I have really learned a lot about myself, the world around me and what I want for my future.
Reflecting back, a few things have changed from my original goal statement. First off, one of my master’s concentrations has changed. I originally wanted the science and mathematics education as my secondary concentration. Through my studies at Michigan State, coupled with my life experiences, I decided to change to P-12 school and post secondary leadership. I decided to go this route because I think that this concentration offers more leadership related courses and ones that could be applied to an array of fields. In addition, it seemed more applicable for me, as the math and science education concentration seemed to pair well with students who already were in the teaching field.
In addition to changes with my secondary concentration, my goals for my first concentration have changed some too. I do not think that I will be using my sport leadership and coaching concentration for what I had originally intended it for, a college-coaching career. Instead, I will use what I have learned from these classes to help apply them to different levels of coaching that I will pursue on the side instead. I will always have sports and coaching within my life, I just will not be making coaching my career path. I do believe that the classes I took for this concentration are still very applicable in my life and will be put to good use. In addition, I think a lot of what I learned and skills I have acquired are very transferable. For example, with the P-12 school and post secondary leadership concentration, a lot of the classes were leadership based. Any job and really anything you do in life allows this leadership skill to be transferred. In addition, with some of the classes I have taken within this major I have learned a lot about learning and education. I have been exposed to many points of views and will be able to use what I have learned and apply them in my life – regardless of my job. I took a budgeting and finance in higher education class. If I don't do something with higher education, the information I used is still very relevant and could be transferable in a number of different ways. Regardless, I learned a lot about how the systems work, if nothing for my own knowledge, and to keep in mind when I have kids some day.
Although my goals have changed some since prior to starting the master’s program, I believe that change is good. Change means that you are learning and growing and adapting to what works for you. As I believe that learning is a life long process, so too is change.