Chesni Raibley

Pursuing a degree to become an English teacher, I had accounted for lesson plans and reading classics. What I had not accounted for was how through lecture and literature, I would follow history, world events, culture, and the simple lives of gifted writers taking down history with a pen. Beginning with the very history of English language and literature, UCA English has equipped me with knowledge and prepared me to teach. Studying the work of past writers has broadened my views, challenged me, and taught me to think larger than the simple words on paper. My career goals have expanded with the confidence that I can make a difference with my words and writing because of the critical thinking I have stretched and developed. While teaching has my whole heart, I feel empowered to pursue school administration or continue looking into school policy, which I have always been interested in. I want to make a difference in education, and teaching is where I will start. I began as a student who had limits. Through class debates, discussions with my professors, the encouragement and opportunity they have provided me with, my limits are replaced with confidence. In my own classroom, I hope to never lose sight of the way that my college professors made every class discussion accessible to every learner. Studying English at UCA has been so much more than I thought it would be, and though my journey as a UCA bear may be coming to an end in the spring, my journey as a student will never be over.