Hi everyone. I looked and it has been a long time since I last updated my blog. On May 25th I finished my first year of teaching. I have learned so much over this past year from both the students that I taught and the staff members at my school. Currently, I am on summer break and am enjoying the time off. Summer started off great with a visit to St. Simons beach off the Georgia coast. My friend Melissa and her husband are living there for a year so I thought what a great place to visit. My roomate Katie and I are in the process of moving into a house. We can’t wait to have a backyard so the dog can run around outside! The next month will mostly revolve around the World Cup. My family and I are huge soccer fans and will enjoy watching the games from South Africa. I hope that everyone is doing well. I was so excited to see the success of the Casino Night. Thanks to everyone who came out and supported the event. I wish I could have been there.

Wow, I can’t believe how much time has passed since my last post. My first year of teaching is going great. I am been extremely busy working with the students and handling all of the other responsibilities that come with teaching. The staff and faculty at my school are so supportive of me and my students. Some of the fun activities that we have done so far this year include learning math concepts by tracking a college football team. Also, we go on community skills outings once a week and have gone to places such as bowling and the grocery store. My students are also in charge of the recycling program at school. They take great pride in their jobs. At home, my family is doing well. We have a new addition, my brother and sister-in-law adopted a dog, Finley. He loves visiting Athens. My family has spent most of our weekends tailgating for UGA football games. We loved inviting family and old friends to come and enjoy an afternoon “between the hedges.” Currently, I am busy getting ready for Christmas. I will finish school on Friday and get two weeks off. We plan on spending some time in Charlotte to celebrate Christmas with my extended family. I am excited to have brother and sister-in-law with us this Christmas. I hope that everyone enjoys their time with family and friends this holiday season.

I hope that everyone has enjoyed their summer. On August 10th I started my first year of teaching. I am teaching students with special needs. Currently I have 7 students in my classroom and am lucky to have the help of a great paraprofessional. School has been very busy, and I have been attending lots of training sessions. The staff at my school is wonderful and so helpful. My students are excited for college football to start.  Each student has a team that they will be keeping track of their wins and losses. Of course I will be keeping track of the Georgia Bulldogs!  In July, I moved into a townhome with my friend Katie. We are enjoying decorating our new place and keeping her dog off our furniture! I am looking forward to Labor Day weekend, celebrating Katie’s birthday and relaxing.  Thanks so much to everyone who supports the scholarship. I hope that everyone enjoys their Labor Day Weekend.

On May 8th I graduated from UGA. I attended,with my friends, the College of Education Convocation Ceremony. Our keynote speaker was the head coach of UGA’s gymnastics team. This past year the Gym Dogs won their fifth national title in a row. Coach Susan was a great speaker. After graduation I flew to New Jersey to attend SMT Casino Night. I had such a great time especially meeting Kristin and Zach. I wanted to thank all of those who attended and supported Casino Night.

There has been a lot to celebrate this summer. My mother retired after 34 years of teaching. We had a great retirement party in honor of her. Also, I attended a wedding in the mountains of North Georgia. This past weekend, my friends Melissa and Brad were married on Myrtle Beach. I was so honored to be a bridesmaid in their wedding. On a personal note, my grandmother passed away on Saturday after being ill for several years. She was a strong women and in her memory we have asked friends and family to donate to SMT. My family felt that this was a great way to honor her and to support the foundation that means so much to us.  In the next few weeks, my family will be taking a beach vacation. Also, I am starting to get my classroom ready to begin teaching on August 6th. I can’t wait!

I was born with an Endocardial cushion defect, meaning that I was born with a defect in my heart’s atrial septum, the ventricular septum, and one or both of the AV valves. When detected prior to birth, often there is a high probability that the infant will be born with down-syndome, though I was fortunate to avoid such a diagnosis. Although I am unsure of the extent of damage, I had my first open-heart operation at the age of two at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and today continue extensive check-ups every two years by Dr. Bhargava in Vorhees, NJ. Today, I still suffer from a moderate heart murmur as well as other a few other complications that will have to be repaired later on in my life.

Currently, I am a student enrolled at East Stroudsburg University. Just finishing up my Sophmore year, I’m double-majoring in Social Studies Secondary Education and Pre-Law Political Science, as well as working towards a Spanish minor. I hope to graduate from East Stroudsburg and attend law school, hopefully, at Boston University or George Washington University for Intellectual Property Law. Given the prominent roles that the internet and computer have played within the last twenty years, I am facsinated with digital copyrights and electronic contracts, and hope to become involved in the future of intellectual property rights.

Finally done my Spring 2009 semester, I look forward to a summer filled with working as a Member Services Representative at ABCO Federal Credit Union, my four courses that I will be attending at Burlington County College, and the sporadic trips to the beach and hopefully a roadtrip I’m planning. Only a week out of school and home for the summer, work has consumed my week, though I enjoy my job and the members make it interesting. I really hope to have enough saved to purchase a used car – a Jeep Wrangler – for the next school semester. My small coupe doesn’t quite cut it in the Pocono winters.

My first year away from home went great. My roomates and I got along very well, and the college is amazing. I have been pleased with most of my professors, and I’m glad I chose a smaller University, as getting to know your peers and teachers is a lot easier. I’m excited to have a blog to write in, and as events occur, I’ll be sure to keep everyone posted. Thank you to everyone for your continued support, and I commend everything that the Sydney Mae Taylor Foundation does to bring recognition to these often undetected serious defects.

Currently I am in my final stretch of student teaching. This week my students will be taking their big standardized test, so it is a little stressful at school. I just got back from a weekend at the beach with friends. We had a great time relaxing and going on a little road trip. This upcoming weekend is the Twilight Festival, so my friends and I are going to watch a professional bike race through downtown Athens.

Last week I took a job offer. Starting in August I will be teaching at Magill Elementary School in Loganville, GA. I will still live in Athens and drive to school. I am so excited, I love the principal that I interviewed with. So things are busy with getting ready for graduation and finishing student teaching. I will finish student teaching on April 30th and graduate May 8th!

The past couple weeks have been very busy. Recently, my school hosted parent/teacher conferences and I got to sit in on some of my student’s conferences. It was a great learning experience. Currently in student teaching, I have taken over three parts of the day. This upcoming week I get 2 days off for winter break, and I am so excited to have a little down time. My students were so excited about Valentine’s Day and we did lots of activities to celebrate this holiday.

I have finished applying to 4 school systems and will be going to two Job Fairs the week of the 23rd. My funny child quote of the week is from one of my 4th graders. He brought his math homework in to check and did not do it correctly.

Teacher: John, you didn’t do what the problem asked.
John: I did it my way.
Teacher: Go back and try it again.
He comes up the 2nd time with his homework.
Teacher: John, you still didn’t do what the problem asked, try it again.
John: I hate puberty, and I don’t even know what it is.

I will keep everyone updated on my job search.

I was born with Hypo-Plastic Left Heart Syndrome.  Basically, I was born with only half of my heart.  I had four open heart surgeries within the first 3 years of my life.  These were all done at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.  When I was 16,  I had a spinal fusion to correct an 80 degree curve caused by the scoliosis that resulted from all the chest openings.  I am one of the oldest in the world with this heart disease. 

Well, yesterday was my 22nd birthday!  It was a good day!   My parents came to town on Sunday to go to church with me and then do a birthday lunch.  

I have just started my last semester of nursing school.  Tomorrow I have a 9 hour skills class which I thought was just a review but have since found out will be graded.  Ugh.  I am very organized and hate surprises!!  This semester, we will be in the hospitals three days a week and in class, two.     Each Friday a different hospital program will come and do recruitment at lunch.  Free food!  Yea!   The one thing that I won’t have to worry about will be job placement.  Nurses will always be in shortage.  Which is good for me but bad for the patients.  I definately want to do pediatric cardiology but am not sure of where.  I am still leaning toward my home hospital Le Bonheur.  We have a great new cardiac surgeon and the people I’ve known all my life are there  but who knows where I may end up.  I work as a Patient Care Assistant at Le Bonheur each time I am on break.    I look forward to graduating in 14 weeks!!  Hurray!

I was born with pulmonary atresia. This condition occurs when the pulmonary valve does not form properly. Therefore, the blood can’t flow from the right ventricle into the pulmonary artery and on to the lungs. I had three open heart surgeries, during the first 18 months of my life, and continue to be monitored yearly.

I am so excited about having my own blog and looking forward to keeping readers updated on what is happening in Athens, Georgia. Currently, I am not taking any classes. However, I am student teaching full time. I am at school from 7:30-3:30, Monday through Friday. This week is very exciting because I will be taking over my first segment of the day. This requires me to come up with the lessons I plan to teach my children and to instruct them from start to finish. By mid March, I will be taking over my classroom all day. Working with students, who have exceptional needs, is very rewarding and lots of fun. Everyday the kids make me laugh. Every week I would love to post a “quote of the week” that one of my students has said to me. On Friday, two of my students were sent home sick and we were talking with the class about germs.

Teacher: “Guys, I hope that you didn’t bring your germs into my class this morning.”

Student: “I didn’t bring in my germs, I brushed my teeth this morning.”