Officially Graduated and Certified

   It has now been official for over a week that I have graduated from the UGC MAT program and I am certified by NYS as a Biology and General Science teacher. I was thinking today how quickly it all went and can still hardly believe that I graduated over a year ago. The program here at UGC was certainly an intense one, but it went by so quickly and was well worth it. This past Thursday was my last day at Troy High School. I cannot belive my time is over there and though so many of my students may not believe me, I will miss them all greatly. I can also say that 100% of my students passed the Living Environment Regents exam, so I was thrilled to see that all of my hard work as well as theirs paid off. I ended my last day my going out to dinner with the entire Biology department and one of the other UGC Biology interns. They were such amazing individuals to work with and I learned so much from all of them whether it be about Biology, teaching or staying sane, they were always there to lend a helping hand or ear.
   Graduation itself was a beautiful ceremony and though the weather did not quite hold, I took in every moment because we had all worked so hard to get there. I am currently in the process of applying for jobs, so keep your fingers crossed for me. I will be working at UGC all summer with the School of Education Office and the President's Office, so if you have questions, concerns or just want to say hi stop over and see me. I think that is it for now.
   Looking forward to dinner tonight with my supervisor, mentor, fellow intern graduate and her mentor. Nice way to celebrate the year. I feel very fortunate to have worked with such a great mentor and supervisor who were there to support and encourage me every step of the way this year and for me to learn from. I truly feel that I have grown so much due to their expertise and guidance.

Only 5 Teaching days left!

I cannot believe I only have 5 days left with my students and that graduation is 8 days away. I truly cannot believe how quickly the end of the year is approaching. It is both exciting and scary all at the same time. Graduating means that I have finished a very long year full of hard work, but it also means that I am back out in the real world in pursuit of a job. Right now there are very few teaching openings to come by so it is a waiting game all around. I am confident it will all eventually work out and I just hope I find a school that is the perfect fit. Once I graduate, I will still have a week left at Troy, where I will help students that need to to finish labs, opportunities for review and then Wednesday, June 16th they will take the Regents. I will help with the proctoring and will be there for the grading process. Once that is complete I will have a weekend before starting my job at UGC. I was given the opportunity to come back to UGC to help out over the summer with the School of Education, School of Management and the President's Office. I am glad that I will be able to work with some of the amazing professors and staff that UGC has to offer a little longer. Hopefully during this time a job will become available and I will be hired, crossing my fingers. I still do not think it has completely set in that I am so close to being done. It has been something we have all been working towards this entire year and it seems surreal that I will finally have reached the end. I completed two of my courses this week and the only course left is seminar which I have this evening and for the last time next Wednesday. It will be such a relief when all of my work is handed in and there is nothing left for me to really do but walk across the stage to graduate.

Please let me know if you have questions!