On My Way

Today's the day.

I'm actually moving to Alaska. It's way too late to back out now, even if I wanted to do so. Which I definitely don't.

Instead, I'm sitting in the Chicago airport wondering how I even got this far. When did I first decide this was what I wanted to do? Why in the world did I decide to move to Alaska? It wasn't for the iPhone (which I'm getting very soon) or even for the playground and actual school building (though I am psyched about those things). There are actually a lot of reasons, ones that I have shared with other people and some that I haven't told anyone just yet.

Yes, my pay and benefits are going to be so much better than they were in South Carolina. I'll be the first to admit, that isn't a deterrent. With a little luck I'll be able to save some money over the next little bit to be able to fund grad school, something I definitely want to invest in once I've really decided what I want to be when I grow up. It's a plus, something that I noted in my mental pros and cons list, but obviously that didn't make the decision for me.

It all boils down to a few things. First, that I have always wanted to teach somewhere I was needed. If the North Slope of Alaska doesn't need some good, adventurous teachers I don't know where does. The students in my hometown of Fort Mill would be awesome, great and eager learners, but the thing is that if I'm not teaching them, they will have a teacher who is equally as qualified and great in their classroom. I spent last year at a school where my students needed me. I was teacher, parent, big sister, mentor, to many of these students. Someone who would sit and talk with them about concerns in their lives, someone it was safe to share details of their lives with. Now that I've experienced that bond with those students, I can't go back to a place where the students don't depend on me for more than just acquisition of knowledge. Simply put, I need to be needed, not just wanted. When you've turned a student's life around from believing they cannot do something because that's what they've been told their entire life, to knowing that they can do whatever they put their mind to, you can't just go back to those students who are told by their parents they can be whatever they want. I don't want to just be a teacher, I want to be a member of their family.

Second, I've always wanted to go on an adventure. I love going to new places. I grin like an idiot whenever the plane lands in someplace new. In college, I would have loved to study abroad, but I told myself it wasn't possible because of my major. I said goodbye and hello to most of my friends on either side of their semesters and summers abroad, and I was jealous of every minute they got to spend on their adventure. I wanted to be there, doing all those amazing life changing things with them. One of my best friends from college joined the Peace Corps and is currently living in Guatemala. Another of my friends is living in Germany and spending time seeing Europe. Why can't I take my own adventure? So here I am, moving to Alaska on my own adventure, and my friends are telling me they're proud of me. Proud and excited that I would finally take my own chance to go see the world and do something exciting, learn something new.