Milestone

My educational career has been a long, arduous journey thus far and continues as I approach the completion of the Masters in Special Education program here at Caldwell College.  I started off in the Post-Baccalaureate Teaching Certification Saturday program at Caldwell College about five years ago.  At the time, I was working as a Teacher Assistant at a school for students with autism.  I took the necessary courses, completed my student teaching (acquiring my K-5 certification), and then continued to take graduate courses at night to obtain my special education certification.  Within that time, I acquired a full time teaching job at the school I currently work at.  Any one of those accomplishments could be considered major milestones.  However, my biggest milestone while pursuing my masters actually occurred outside of Caldwell College.  After my first half-year as a certified teacher (I was hired in January), I was let go because of enrollment issues.  Since I was the last teacher hired, there was not enough room to hire me back.  However, in the summer I was approached by the principal and director and asked to take the Middle School Social Studies Praxis exam.  The current social studies teacher at that time was not able to pass this test and also did not have a history degree like I do.  Upon hearing this, I immediately signed up for the next available test which happened to be less than two weeks away.  Studying like I have never studied before, I successfully passed the examination on my first attempt and was offered the social studies position.  I went from not having a job to being a highly qualified middle school social studies teacher in a matter of weeks.  To me, that is my greatest milestone.