Remember How to Color

Thinking on what it means to be happy…

I believe we are in control of our own happiness.  We cannot control our circumstances but we can control the way we react to them.

And happiness is not our actions, but comes as a result of our actions.  By putting effort into what we do, how we act, the way we care for ourselves and others, we create an attitude within ourselves that nurtures happiness.

And maybe it’s not always easy.  Sometimes maybe it takes a little extra effort.  Act with intention.  When life brings you down, let yourself be upset and then do what you need to to change your situation or change your attitude.

But really, happiness means something different to everyone.

So be happy, whatever that means to you.

The question lately, as I prepare to graduate from five years of architecture school is: ‘What made you decide to teach?” since I will be joining the Teach for America Corps and imparting all my knowledge of Physics to high school students somewhere in the Mississippi Delta.

It’s a funny question because I hardly know how to answer it.  It just felt like the right thing to do.  One day, I came across an email from our career services office about the Teach for America deadline and, on a whim, I decided I might apply.  I told hardly anyone.  With only about 10% of applicants being accepted, I tried not to get my hopes up.  However, the more I learned about the Teach for American program and what it strives to accomplish, the more I believed in it and felt like it was something I could and should do.

There is a gap in the education of children in our country.  This gap puts children and youth in low-income areas at a great disadvantage.  They grow up in poverty without the resources to get a good education and climb out of poverty, thus, their own children also grow up in poverty and the vicious cycle continues.  Teach for American recruits motivated individuals with strong leadership skills to teach in a low-income community for two years, because they believe good teachers and schools are part of the solution to the devastating education gap.

I have a plan—-and a job!!—-for the next two years {Thank you, Teach for America}.  But I still don’t really have a plan for my life.  To me, though, the most important thing is that I am contributing to society and helping others.  That I live of life of giving to others.

So why am I teaching?  

Well, yes, the job prospects for architecture students don’t look so great right now…but honestly?  

It’s a good thing to do.  

I will be moving to one of the poorest parts of the country, where schools have been practically re-segregated (as white families can afford private schools), and I will be putting all of my love and energy into showing my students that they CAN learn physics and that they CAN succeed and that someone DOES believe in them and that they CAN graduate high school and they CAN become a college graduate as well.  And, no, I don’t think it will be easy.  But I think it will be good.  I think it will be a great adventure.  And I think it will be life-changing.

::Teach for America, Mississippi Delta 2012 Corps Member::