By Valentina Gheorghe, class of 2012, Integrated Language Arts major
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| Val Gheorghe (right) with Anu Nande (left), a friend she met while studying abroad in England. |
When I look back on the path that lead me into teaching high school Language Arts, I find it full of little ironies, the most amusing of which is that English is not my first language. My family immigrated to the United States when I was two-and-a-half years old from Romania, and I distinctly remember not understanding what anyone at daycare was saying to me, but that they were saying it in a very nice way. A lot of my free time as a child was spent reading as it kept me occupied - a scheme that worked so well I preferred to read than to do any of my actual school work.
Sitting in my freshman high school English class I remember my favorite teacher, Bonnie Molnar, describing a bit of her workload as an educator. I told myself “I’ll never do that.” (I’ve since learned not to say “I’ll never” as that will undoubtedly become a thing I do.) The problem, if it can even be called that, is that I loved reading, was very good at it, and worse, was able to help my fellow students in English class. I eventually applied to Ashland, as it was the alma mater of another high school teacher, and passed through the gauntlet of classwork, field experience, and inordinate amounts of paperwork that accompany a degree in English Education.
There is a certain pride that comes from having to work so hard for something you love. A particular respect follows you if you’ve made it through Ashland’s academic halls. It was at Ashland I learned to dissent, to discuss, to delve deep, and to eventually be brave enough to study abroad, once in Ormskirk, England, and again to fulfill part of my student teaching practicum in Darwin, Australia. (Here is yet another irony of life. When I was in England I sent my parents the largest Christmas card I could find. It took more than the usual amount of time to be delivered. My father had sent me an email explaining that once they received it there was a sticker on the envelope explaining it was missent to Australia, and he asked if that is where I wanted to go next. I reassured him I did not. A year a half later I landed in Australia’s Northern Territory after having applied to student teach in Ireland.)
Getting a career right out of Ashland did not happen. I spent two years substitute teaching at my former high school (a surreal experience as I could now call my teachers by their first names) as well as a lot of time working at Barnes & Noble doing everything except reading. In the summer of 2014 I applied, near the end of the summer, to a high school 34 miles away, in a former pottery town, that I had never heard of. My last ditch effort at a teaching job became a God-send as I could not have asked for a nicer place to start my career in teaching. It is not well-known, nor particularly affluent, but I have some of the best colleagues and students any teacher could ever have asked for.
Since I’ve been in teaching, I have started on my Masters in English with a Professional and Technical Writing focus, building on the foundation started at Ashland. I feel very fortunate to have had the experiences, educational and otherwise, provided to me during my five years at Ashland.
Getting a career right out of Ashland did not happen. I spent two years substitute teaching at my former high school (a surreal experience as I could now call my teachers by their first names) as well as a lot of time working at Barnes & Noble doing everything except reading. In the summer of 2014 I applied, near the end of the summer, to a high school 34 miles away, in a former pottery town, that I had never heard of. My last ditch effort at a teaching job became a God-send as I could not have asked for a nicer place to start my career in teaching. It is not well-known, nor particularly affluent, but I have some of the best colleagues and students any teacher could ever have asked for.
Since I’ve been in teaching, I have started on my Masters in English with a Professional and Technical Writing focus, building on the foundation started at Ashland. I feel very fortunate to have had the experiences, educational and otherwise, provided to me during my five years at Ashland.
