10 Year Monacan High School Reunion

My high school class had it's 10 year reunion Saturday night at Triple Crossing Brewery (which a classmate of ours co-owns)! I prepped for this event by digging out my senior scrapbook on Friday night...

Senior Parties

Show Choir friends...in 2004...

In 2014... I think we aged well!

More senior events with my closest friends.

Senior Day at school- I think we had an awards ceremony this day.

I love this note... :) P.S. My handwriting still looks exactly this way.

Center Stage (show choir) senior year- we were very good that year! 

Senior Pic in Maymont!

I think we look pretty good for 10 years!

The reunion was fun and went by very fast. It was hard to chat with everyone and there were certain people I didn't see until the end when we had to leave (and lots of people I didn't recognize)! We had the brewery from 8-11 PM, and I was with the last group to leave at 12:30 AM (I am sure the workers were annoyed)! Everyone is doing great and was so nice. It was interesting to hear people's opinions of me after 10 years...it just makes you realize how so much of what you worry about in high school are things no one thinks/cares/notices about you (or they think the opposite of what you would expect). I like to think I was pretty much friends or friendly with everyone- I was always in the accelerated/honors classes, but I had popular friends (surprisingly a lot of the popular students in my grade were good students) and friends who weren't, and I hope people think I was nice. That is what is most important to me. You can read about my views on high school here.

 It was refreshing to reminisce with everyone- they are all just the same! I wish we had a daytime event as well, but we can always do that at the next one. Now with facebook and social media, it is easy to keep in touch so reunions are probably less structured than they used to be. But it was great to see those who came, especially those I don't see on a regular basis (I keep in touch with a handful from high school and run into more occasionally from living in the same city). I think the next one will be even better! 

I am glad I reconnected with old friends that I grew up with (many since elementary/middle school- such an interesting time of life...definitely links you to people in different ways) but am happy that I am no longer in high school and am living the life I am today with my amazing friends, recent and old!

Virtual Classroom

Happy Tuesday! I started my day a little later than normal with a (slow) run and voting. I tell ya, some days your runs are just NOT good. Today I was not feeling it at all and had to walk multiple times. I think I got too much sleep or am fighting something. Ten hours of slumber may be a bit much...or else I really am sick. Do you normally feel off after a flu shot? I got one at work yesterday, so that could be it, too.

We had parent-teacher conference at work today, so I had to work 11-6 to accommodate parents. Since I work at an elective-based school, there were very few conferences scheduled. However, this caused me to miss my Tuesday class, so I had my first ever video correspondence (via google) during class! This was a somewhat odd experience for me, but it is a great way to be present even when physically not so! Technology just blows my mind sometimes. We only had one minor mishap, but it worked well. I am glad I know this is an option if I ever need to miss class due to work obligations in the future. Only 4 more weeks of class to go!

I hope you all are started off to a good week! Go vote!

B-ham 'Bama

I figured it was about time I talked a little bit about school!

I am now over halfway through my first semester of doc life, and it is going well! I go through phases of loving it to feeling overwhelmed and unsure of my choice to feeling intellectually and personally fulfilled to wondering what on earth I will do with this degree (and sometimes all multiple times a day)! The coursework has been very manageable with my job, and I enjoy being in class twice a week. It makes my weeks busier, but I still have time to relax, workout and spend time with friends (and even go on trips)! It's been a good decision thus far and is opening up my eyes to a new world of education.

I just got back tonight from the SACES conference, and I am feeling fulfilled and rejuvenated (and in amazement of the wonderful world we live in- traveling always does that to me)! This could not have come at a better time. I was feeling overwhelmed and unsure of myself following class this week, but this conference made me feel like this career track is not only something that I can see myself doing, but could be something that will fulfill me as an educator, intellectual, counselor and person.

I love flying and looking through SkyMall!

I was not overly impressed with Birmingham (sorry!), but I did get to explore a little bit of the city before the conference began. A classmate and I found a great restaurant that we went to twice on Thursday and stumbled onto UAB at Birmingham. We walked a good part of the city but sadly not to any of the great shopping we heard about. I still can’t get over how big the hotel we were at was, though- it was like a little city with so many connections to conference centers and other hotels (and the beds were SO comfy!) I loved how our room looked over the atrium! I love cool hotels :).

The sessions overall were good. I went to a total of twelve over the course of Friday and Saturday, and I got wonderful ideas about programs and procedures I can implement in my school (namely great college/career and STEM ideas) and also good ideas for dissertation topics and doctoral life success. I now am not as intimidated to present at conferences and am more sure of myself, my identity as a practitioner and student, and my abilities. I see where what we are learning about in classes translates to the world of academia. And it excites me!

I also thoroughly enjoyed meeting other counselor educators, especially those that are new to the profession. It felt good to learn from their experiences, but also I (more importantly) liked their personalities! That is so important because these people could be my future coworkers, and they seem like good, solid people who want to make a difference in education, which says so much about the profession and what my future could look like. I also felt very comfortable asking questions and sharing my own insights in the sessions and round tables. They had a great program for students in the interview process, so that is good for me in a few years (it also seems like jobs are plentiful)!

It was also fun to spend time with all the VCU doctoral students and professors. They are a fun bunch:) The evening activities where we hung out more casually, ate/drank, and networked were great! I am looking forward to getting more involved in programs at VCU and hopefully writing with these ladies!

After the luncheon on Friday

Great end to the week! I love professional development:)

Soon-to-be a Ph.D.

Hi there!

I have a new blog. For my doctoral seminar course we have to keep a blog about our journey through the program this semester, and I am hoping to keep up with it for the entirety of my program. I may link certain posts here if they are relevant, but go ahead and check it out! I promise not to make it totally academic, so hopefully it will be a good read into my mind about my studies that week:)!

Check it out at: www.robynissoontobeaphd.blogspot.com

As for my first week of classes- so far, VERY good decision:) Loving all my readings and courses. I feel this will improve my professional work as well as my personal life satisfaction. I am excited!

Why is it so hard to know what you actually want?

What a whirlwind of a few weeks!

Making decisions is hard. I had the worst time and range of emotions throughout my decision on whether or not to go for my Ph.D., and, if I decided to, when to begin the process. I found it really hard to actually KNOW what it was I wanted. It was exciting to think about (I mean, getting a doctorate is a huge honor and accomplishment), but when it came down to it, was I ready? The whole process was accelerated and unexpected as I went from going to an information session in June (just to get some ideas!) to being offered a tentative spot a few weeks later, to applying right when I got back from Greece, to hearing nothing for weeks, and then finally getting an official acceptance just a week before class began, which I then had to ruminate over and ended up accepting the day before orientation. WHEW!

Many questions were going through my head to make a final decision. Did I want to keep living as I was for the next year and then go back to school? Did I want to stay in my same career forever? Did I want to work in high school or college? How did I want to use my finances? Did I want to get involved with something outside of work? Did I want to keep working side jobs for extra money as a way to spend my time? Was dating going to lead to my happiness or was it going to be something else within myself (I know, I know, stupid question, but keep in mind I am 28)? Could I stick with this decision for the next 4-5 years?

My thoughts on all this changed daily, and it resulted in a few weeks of me being in a "funk" and having a hard time. In life you make so many decisions; some big and some small; some with a lot of information to process and others with none; and you grow and learn from the good and bad in those decisions. This felt like a big decision, because I knew it would change me. I would become a different person professionally and personally from this journey. It would change my whole life and some of my priorities (good-bye traveling budget to pay for school!). Was I ready?

The answer came down to a very simple question: Would I be completely happy doing as I have been doing for the last few months for the next year or so? Was my job and extracurriculars and travels going to be enough? I decided it wasn't. As much a I live for traveling, I knew that waiting every few months for a big trip was not going to result in me being my best self, no matter how fun those trips are. I wanted to challenge myself again, do better work in my own job, and really put myself to the test of accomplishing a goal that has been in the back of my mind since I was in graduate school. I needed to do this for myself and my mind, or at least try to do it.

When it comes down to it- I LOVE school. I always have. I had a really hard time adjusting to the working world after graduate school, because it felt like a huge part of me was missing. It took me a while to figure out what it was that I needed to do to bring out a different side of myself in place of that aspect. I have always missed it, so I am very excited (and overwhelmed) with the possibility of being able to hopefully permanently be in a "school" position. My goal with this Ph.D. is to teach, advise and research, and that to me is very, very, very exciting. I will have the options to combine traveling with education and hopefully move somewhere when I am done to start a new life. Luckily, I can do this program part-time (2 classes per semester), and should be done with the classes in 3 years before I begin writing my dissertation.

Here's to the next 4-5 years of  "fun!"

10 years ago

Today is 10 years to the day when I graduated high school on June 14, 2004!

It’s funny- people say that time goes by fast, and it does, but it also feels like that was a lifetime ago. I was in such a different place as an 18 year old as I am as a 28(!) year old.

April 2004 celebrating Emily's Birthday

I remember the day semi-clearly. My whole family was in town, including my grandmother, and I had the early graduation that day at 10 AM. I sat on the right side of the seating in the Siegel Center at VCU (all high school graduations in the area are held there) and my family was in the stands beside me. They cheered when my name was called across the stage and after obligatory pictures following the ceremony, we went home to have lunch and a Cold Stone Creamery cake (obviously, since I was working there at the time)! I don’t remember much afterward, but it was a nice day and the weeks leading up to it had been a lot of fun due to all my friends’ graduation parties! It is weird I still remember what I wore to those parties?! J

High school was a hard time for me. I did very well academically and had many good friends, but I put a lot of pressure on myself. I didn’t accept anything but the best in terms of my grades and extracurriculars and that kind of pressure can have negative effects. I was so caught up in being “perfect” that I remember so clearly simply wanting to be happy. I didn’t have a career or college goal at the time except to let go of my perfectionistic personality. To show you how aware I was of my faults at this point, I even wrote in my senior year scrap book (which I still have and looked through the other week- I am so glad I made one!) that my dream job was: To do anything and live anywhere that makes me happy. That is probably a little different than your average high school goal, right?

Humanities Senior Banquet  in June 2004

My life has only improved in the last 10 years. I went to two great colleges and met so many amazing people from undergrad and grad school and even more amazing people through my work. I cannot imagine how my life would have been had I not met all these people. They have definitely invigorated my life and helped me grow into who I am today! I am also lucky to still be friends with many people from my youth and to get to experience the highs and lows in their lives- all across the country. Friends are definitely the family you pick for yourself.

My change and growth has been gradual over time. I am still a perfectionist by nature, but I am much more relaxed about success and work. I have a good job and a stable income that enables me to do all the things I want to (for the most partJ), so I am very content and grateful (besides my usual "itch" for change). I think stability in and of itself has brought happiness to my life, because I have full control and am not relying on parents, teachers or admission offices to determine where my life will head. It is all up to me now (and the mercy of employers)! I also do not let work rule my life like school did. I still aim to do my best and do a good job, but I work so I can live my life and not the other way around. Most of my life goals now are not related to work but are more for my own personal fulfillment. This has helped me achieve balance, and I also think running and wellness/health has helped me overcome health barriers that were once struggles. I am, as always, a work in progress.

Posing in 2002 with my Algebra 2 class

So on this 10 year anniversary, I would say I am very glad to have high school behind me and would not trade where I am now for any other point in my life. It probably helps that I now work in high schools- I get enough of my school fix on a daily basisJ. My life keeps getting better and better, and I like it that way. No need to live in the past.

End of Summer

I am out of town this weekend celebrating my bro's wedding in Northern Virginia (post forthcoming), and it is a fitting way to end my summer. I go back to work full-time at school on Monday. It will be my 4th year!

I interviewed for a few other jobs at the end of the school year and into the summer, and while a very promising development had me excited for a new opportunity, the stars did not align and I did not move schools or jobs. I have come to terms with not being able to move, and with some new administrators and a new office, I am hopeful for a good and different year.

The beginning of the school year is always busy and stressful- even more so with the fact that I am still managing at the pool after work and on weekends until Labor Day- but it goes by fast. A few years of practice with scheduling, enrolling new students, school procedures, ect also helps!

BUT it was a great summer, and I will be sad to say good-bye to my lazy days on August 19th. Even though I worked all summer and traveled and went to A LOT of weddings (never fear- those aren't done until October), I overall enjoyed my time away from school. I think having summers off is the most perfect job related schedule in the world! Coming back refreshed is definitely important to not getting burned out.

Cheers to the 2013-2014 school year!

The End

The student's last day was last Thursday (technically Friday if they needed to make-up an exam) and my last day is tomorrow. I get blessed with an extra 4 day week to clean up course requests and scheduling for next year. I also get the pleasure of calling parents about summer school if students failed classes.

I feel as excited as this kid.

I have been mentally checked out of this school year for about a month now, but especially in the last few weeks. It is hard to believe that I am finishing my 3rd year as a school counselor, but yet sometimes it feels longer! I guess that is how it is with most things.

Next year is promising to be full of changes, many within my school as a whole, but also within my department and potentially with me. I have some opportunities that I should know about soon. It makes the end of this year, while frustrating, also bittersweet and full of the unknown. I feel I will reflect better once I am further away from the year ending, so get ready for that post:). For now, I bid adieu to the 2012-2013 school year. It has been a year of challenges, fun, successes, failures and growth, as is every year in education!

Happy Summer!!!!!

Work Bloggin'

Since I am a counselor at a high school, I get word of a lot of incidents going on in or around our county. I am also privy to emails and resources about what can help parents and students during difficult times. Today I encourage you to go over to my work blog, mbkschoolcounseling.blogspot.com, for some ideas for you or your family when something like this happens.

It has been a very dark few days for our country, so I hope you and your loved ones find light in one another and the holiday season. I have never felt unsafe at my own school, but after the tragedy at Virginia Tech, which hit very close to home, and now this, I find it hard to believe that we are ever truly safe from anything anymore. The media, mental health field and gun control all need to be reexamined. There is no one quick, easy fix, but we all need to remember how we feel now to make this world a better place.

For the children.

Average Day

Apparently it is becoming a big thing for magazines to show us what celebrities do on an average day. I actually really enjoy learning about other people's schedules (it's one of my quirks that I love to know when people usually go to bed/wake up and how they fill their day...no idea why...probably because it reiterates that  everyone is doing nothing).

So since I am so interesting, here is an average spring weekday for me:

6:25 AM: Wake up
6:50 AM: Leave for work (I often carpool with a coworker)
7:10 AM: Arrive and begin the day!
11:30 AM: Lunch w/ coworkers
2:25 PM: Close up shop and head to the gym
4:00 PM: Come back to school to sell tickets at the soccer and baseball games
7:30 PM: Leave for home
8:00 PM: Watch TV while packing my lunch and getting everything ready for next day
10:00 PM: Bed
*If I don't have a game then I get home around 3 and usually go for a run and either have chorus rehearsal or hang around my place and run errands.

You're super amazed and interested in my exciting life aren't you? What is your average day like? Sound off in the comments!

Target Women

Happy "snow day" Monday to those of you in central Virginia! It's a whole 1 inch of snow that is NOT even sticking to the ground, but I'll take it. No snows days all winter= a freakin' long winter for educators.

One great thing about having an unexpected day off (today specifically) is that I was able to attend a lecture at VCU on body image that I couldn't go to without taking personal time as it was from 9-11AM. Anyways, it was really great to be at an educational lecture about a topic that is very close to me. I also have been wishing I could take a course at VCU, but since my county does not offer tuition reimbursement at the moment, this is something that I can't do financially. But I SO miss being in the academic environment of learning, thinking, discussing and discovering. I know I am not done with school forever! I should probably be a professional student.

Anyways, it was a great lecture and gave me some good ideas about programs to run at the high school if I ever get time. That's the one thing that I struggle with at the high school level- I can never do everything I want to, because there are so many things that I HAVE to do that take up a lot of time. I did get good ideas about little things I can do though.

Anyways, among many of the great things we were shown was this video and I just had to share it:

And a more serious one to take away with you this week:

Be a positive role model this week!

Funny Quote of the Day

So, as you may (or may not) know, I work in a high school. I was chatting with two football players today about their game tonight (we are undefeated), and they brought up that a nearby church provides them with an early dinner on game days. When I asked what kind of food they serve- "That's so nice of the church! What kind of food do you get? Do you get to carbo load with pasta and bread?"- my student goes...

"Holy food."

Welcome to the many amusing lines of high schoolers:) But something good sure is in that food, because as of 20 minutes ago, we are now 7-0 and #2 in the region! Go Monarchs!

My New Claim to Fame

That's right, folks. I'm famous.

I am the doughnut eating champ from the MBK faculty tailgate. I ate 11 doughnuts (yup, try not to throw up thinking about it) in 3 minutes. An average of 3.7 doughnuts per minute. Yum.

I only competed against females, but the male champ ate 14 in 5 minutes, which was an average of only 2.8 doughnuts per minute.

So I even beat the dudes. It was not too awful, actually, and besides crashing about 4 hours later with an awful headache, I felt ok afterwards. I was even told I should drop my doughnut eating champ facts as a way to pick up guys. We'll see. That might be a 2nd date conversation.

If you want to see the guys and gals in action, check it out.