ITERATION

genesis

In 2019, I went on leave from my high school teaching job in California, moving to Utah to help out my parents. I couldn't work as a teacher while on leave from my district, but I wanted to be productive and stretch myself in a new direction while in Utah, so I applied for two things: to be a flight attendant (shocker :) for US Airways, and to the Art Education Master's program at my alma mater, BYU (kind of a shocker, but also not).

And... I was accepted to both! (Also not a shocker... though the competition is fierce for flight attendants, one of the reasons I was such a good candidate is because I am a teacher--I'm used to addressing the needs and 'emergencies' of multiple entities at once, and doing it diplomatically). I was pretty stoked-- two dreams at once! BUT-- despite all my energies and problem-solving skills and my will to MAKE THINGS HAPPEN, I couldn't ultimately do both, and I had to choose. So-- I chose grad school.

And obviously that was the better choice. Not just because COVID happened the next year, and I would've been quickly out of a job (yikes) but getting a Master's in Art Ed was just what I needed to rejuvenate my teaching/up my game, when I returned to California.

There is sooooo much more to my Grad School Story (you can read more on the BLOG) but one of the reasons I finally... FINALLY decided to go to grad school after all these years, was because this particular program didn't require a test for admission. I'd long been bitter about the GMAT and the fact that it includes math, which I would need to take a class in in order to pass the GMAT, because I'm a typical art teacher and math is not my forte/I haven't taken it since high school/I can barely do fractions, and that's just because I like to bake... and why should I have to take a course in math just to pass a test to get into a graduate program that has nothing to do with math?? Grrr. SO-- yay, no GMAT!

What this program DID require, however, was a master's THESIS, in order to graduate. Honestly, had I fully grasped what that would entail (...blood, sweat, tears... massive amounts of terrified procrastination, and a brain that literally hurt throughout the process)... I probably would have gone with the flight attendant gig. But, in the long run (and in hindsight because I'm DONE)... the thesis was such an amazing platform for learning, growth, education, and opportunity. AND, ultimately, I was given permission to have a thesis/project combo, so that my research on CRAFT EDUCATION could more readily EDUCATE others! (an educator using a craft education website to educate others about craft/education? So meta)