Graduation Trip: Part I

Well, after a very long, challenging, exhausting, draining, but also amazing 2 1/2 year journey, I finally graduated with my Master's degree!  There were many times that I didn't know if I'd be able to make it through, but with the support of my amazing husband, family, friends, and fellow cohort members, I made it!  I feel like I've grown so much not just in knowledge but personally as well. It feels GREAT to be done!

A few days before we left for my graduation in Colorado, I had Keith take some pictures of me in my cap and gown.

Thankfully my neighbor's tulips were blooming right at the same time! haha

My little future graduate :)

I took about 5 different ones like this and this was the best one.....they always seem to look better on pinterest, lol #nailedit

My graduation was on Saturday, May 10th so on Friday we left for Colorado.  We caravan-ed (sp?) with my mom and step-dad who were also coming to see me graduate.  We drove through Moab, UT and stayed the night with Keith's aunt and uncle who live in Durango, CO and then drove the rest of the way to Alamosa (where my school is) the next day for graduation.  My mom and step-dad drove the whole way Friday night and spent the night in Alamosa.

On the way we made a couple of stops to see some cool sights.  We stopped in Moab at "the hole in the rock" which is a really cool place.  There are literally houses carved inside of this rock wall.  It was so cool!  They also had some cool tourist-y things to look at.

There's little houses in there!  So cool!

It's Mater!

There were a bunch of lizards all over the place!  Keith caught this one, it had a blue belly.

We also stopped at an arch that was right off the side of the road called Wilson's Arch.

Once we got up there I was a nervous wreck because the other side was pretty much a straight up and down cliff. I could just see Isaac end up rolling down the side of it so we didn't stay up there long!  Just long enough to get some quick pictures.

The next stop we made was to some really cool Indian ruins called Lowry Pueblo in Cortez, CO.  We drove down this random little bumpy dirt road for about 10 miles in the middle of nowhere and we weren't even really sure if it was the right place but sure enough there it was!  Very cool stuff.

We stopped in Durango to spend the night and got to visit with Keith's aunt and uncle.  It was great to see them and so gracious of them to let us stay with them!  Malea was lucky enough to get to sleep on this huge love sac that night.

The next morning we got up early and headed out for the rest of the drive to Alamosa.  We met up with my mom and step-dad at Chili's for lunch before we went to the graduation.

My mom and step-dad gave me this beautiful necklace as a graduation gift....it has "Adams State University" engraved on it.  I love it!

Waiting for the ceremony to start!

All the professors coming in

The graduates!  I'm in there somewhere.

I DID IT!!!!  Here I am getting my diploma and hood.  It was a very emotional experience!

Me with some of my amazing cohort!  We all became so close over the course of the last 2 1/2 years.  I am so lucky to have gotten to know all these awesome people!

Me with my little sweeties :)  Isaac's face makes me laugh, lol.  He can't take a serious picture (just like his daddy).

I couldn't have done it without all the love and support from this guy!

And these guys too!

After graduation we drove up to Pueblo, CO (since there's not much to choose from in the way of restaurants in Alamosa) and ate at Olive Garden.  It was also Mother's Day weekend so I gave my mom her mother's day gift while we were waiting.

We gave her a bracelet with all the grandkids names engraved on it!  She loved it!

After we ate we drove the rest of the way to Denver where we would stay with Keith's sister and her family for a couple of days.  I'll do another post with the rest of our trip later :)

I'm so glad we decided to make the trip down there for my graduation.  I know graduations are boring but for me it was an important part of feeling like I was done and to give me some closure I guess.  I am proud of myself for making it through and excited for what the future holds!

My Internship

This past school year I did an internship at Springville Junior High as part of the requirements for my graduate program (I had to complete 600 hours).  I had the opportunity to work with some amazing people and learned a lot along the way.  It was challenging yet very rewarding.  I split the 9th grade with my supervisor, so I was in charge of last names A-K. I looked forward to going every day and I was sad to see it end (although I was so excited to be done!).  The counselors I got to work with were amazing and taught me so much.  I now hope to find a part-time counseling job where I can actually get paid to do what I love!

During my time there I did a few different projects.  I mentioned in THIS blog post a food drive I organized back in December that was awesome (it's at the very end of the post).  I decided to organize another service project where students could come and participate.  I went around to different establishments in the community to get donations for our service project.  I was surprised at how many people told me no but so happy when I did get a couple of places to say yes.  Big thanks to Reams, Corn Wagon Quilt Shop and Smile Center of Utah for donating items to our service project!

The flyer I made and put up around the school:

We had four different stations for students to work at....the first one was writing uplifting notes to soldiers through Operation Gratitude.  The students wrote notes just telling the soldiers how grateful we are for their service and to keep up the good work.  Then we mailed all of them to the OG headquarters in California and they dispersed the notes we wrote.  The second station was putting together "bedtime bags" for kids in shelters.  The bag contained a book, a blanket, a toothbrush/toothpaste, and a stuffed animal.  The third station was making baby hats out of yarn and tying baby blankets, and the last station was putting together hygiene kits.

I made some posters that the kids all signed saying thank you and then developed some pictures from the service project and taped them on there. :)

We had a great turnout!  We got about 30-35 kids to come help

We ended up putting together 15 bedtime bags and 50 hygiene kits!  I don't even know how many notes/letters to soldiers we ended up doing, but there were a lot!

Something else I did during my internship was design this board to help promote college and career readiness, which is a big push that the Utah State Office of Education is making this year.  My office was just off a game room that we had open for students each day between 3rd and 4th period (during our flex time).  There was this big empty board in that room that needed some color so I dreamed up this board and went to work.  I thought it turned out pretty cute! :)

Here's some pics from when I worked on it at home

Another activity I organized was a Mental Health Awareness week.  May is National Mental Health Awareness month so I thought it would be neat to spend a week educating students about the importance of mental health and reducing the stigma attached to mental illness.  Our feeder school, Springville High, had just had a suicide a couple of weeks before this, and a lot of our students were affected by the loss, so I thought it would be an appropriate time to do it.

We had our HOPE Squad members come and help make posters, cut ribbons, and sit at the table each day. (HOPE Squad is a suicide prevention group that our school has, its made up of about 30 students in the school who watch out for other students and make referrals to the counselors if they hear of any students who are struggling.  They are awesome!).

Each day at lunch we had different activities for students to participate in.  I thought it would be cool to have someone come teach yoga to the students at lunch, so I put it out on facebook and sure enough one of my friends knew someone who was willing to come do it for free.  It was awesome!  That was also the day we passed out green ribbons (the official mental health awareness "color") for students to wear throughout the week.

We also had different mental health related handouts on the table for students to take if they wanted.

So the week that I was graduating, the sweet ladies at my internship threw me a little surprise graduation party.  It was so sweet!

I am so lucky to have had such a great experience for my internship.  I was sad to say goodbye to these ladies but excited to see what the future holds for me! :)