Final Reflection

My academic plan is to continue working as hard as possible to finish a degree and begin work in my career field. I have realized with this class and especially with some personal things that have happened this semester that I do need to give myself a break though sometimes. I have been going to school for five semesters straight without a break and this has taken a toll on my ability to complete all of my work and keep my grades up. I still plan to complete a degree in respiratory therapy, but I realized how many careers there are where I can still help people and work with kids. I am currently looking into getting my teaching certificate and possibly a degree in school counseling.
I was able to do some volunteer work this summer working with at risk or abused children and realized how much I enjoyed this type of work. I learned some very powerful things about myself and my patience levels. I can understand so many things from these children’s viewpoints since I have experienced some of the same situations. I also learned how important empathy is and from the tests that we were required to take to tell us what types of people we are and what type of careers will best fit us I was able to explore more avenues. This was a very important thing to understand and to see just how many career fields there is that could mesh with me and who I am. I really enjoyed the networking and job shadow interview skills that I gained. This was a great way to learn more about the career fields I was interested in and how they would really work with my life and goals. It helped me to have some great influences and resources in my network as I complete my schooling and look into different companies for internships or jobs.
I plan to complete my career goals that I set during activities in this class. Since I am also done with my associates degree I plan to hopefully finish up what classes I need to get my teaching certificate and continue teaching at the school I have been at for the past 8 months. I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It has been something I never imagined I would be able to do. I then plan to either get a degree in school counseling to teach and do counseling part time, or just move straight to respiratory therapy. I would like to have something that I know will always be needed, which is something in the medical field. I have such an interest in this as well.
I am excited to see what life and the future will bring. I have learned so much from this class. If I have learned nothing else it is that my career goals do not have to be a solid non-changing plan. There are many things that will fit with my personality type and learning structure. This was a great experience even with all of the overwhelming things I had happen this summer. I appreciate the insights and resources that I gained from this class.