I'm coming off what our team likes to call "conference high" and wanting to reflect a bit on my "smart journey". First of all, lets start with the fact that I LOVE my job. I almost feel as though it's strange to call it a "job". In fact it often doesn't feel like work at all, especially as I sit in seat 11D on my way home from #iNACOL14 and think about how fortunate I am to have a career that I love.
I've always wanted to do work that mattered and brought impact. I also wanted to become a teacher but soon realized I wasn't quite cut out for this, so the next best thing is my work with Getting Smart. I get to help bring impact to kiddos like this one who spoke this week about how online learning has impacted his learning.
Can you imagine being that young and sitting on a panel in front of a huge group of adults? This kid had no fear and was full of pure excitement when talking about his experiences at school. He absolutely LOVES learning and with the work we do, we're helping to bring this passion for learning to more and more students by creating next-generation, digital learning and student centered learning environments.
When I started at Getting Smart I had no idea what was going to come. I knew I was excited to join a dedicated and passionate team of people from all different backgrounds. We all bring a different set of skills and background knowledge to the team and although otherwise we may have never connected, we make a GREAT team. I took a big leap out of my comfort zone when I made the transition to Getting Smart and I've never looked back or thought twice about that decision!
This year I've gone on so many adventures with Getting Smart. We've traveled near and far, here's a list of some of the places I've gone in 2014:
- New York City. Tom was my personal tour guide and while we only had a short 24 hours in the "big apple", I got to see a lot of that giant city. We walked, and walked, and walked some more. Rode the subway, went to the top of Rockefeller Center, peeked at Central Park and froze our butts off walking through time square. It was a great first glance at NYC, and I can't wait to go back as a real tourist!
- Phoenix. The Getting Smart team got to travel down to PHX for a staff retreat. Not all of us work in the Federal Way office so it was awesome to have an opportunity to all be together.
- Austin. The land of all things Queso, Ripolo's Pizza, live music and FUN. The team went down for SXSWedu and we had a blast! I'm pretty sure I ate my weight in chips and queso though. Oh and if you're ever in Austin you have to go to Torchy's Tacos!
- Las Vegas. Twice, in July. Yes, it was as hot as you're thinking. Once for Bb World, then again a little over 7 days later for National Charter Schools Conference. We got to see the area outside of the "strip", have drinks at the Container Park, and most exciting of all we got to have dinner at Giada's restaurant to celebrate Tom's birthday. Believe it or not, the one and only Giada (who is tiny in real life) made an appearance that evening and even touched my shoulder! I know, it's silly to be that excited but I've watched her on Food Network for years people!!
- North Caroline. Where I perfected my southern accent and learned the true meaning of "bless her heart".
- Palm Springs. Most of our team went down this week for the iNACOL 2014 Blended and Online Learning Symposium. I finally got to meet people I've been working with for quite some time, met new connections, learned a ton and soaked up sunshine in beautiful Palm Springs. I'll be bringing Scott back here for sure, and if you're headed there I'd recommend you stay at the Colony Palms Hotel. Great pick Caroline!
This year I was also encouraged to participate in Advancing Leadership which provides me an opportunity to grow personally and professionally while getting involved in the community I work in. I'm super excited to see where that takes me and how I grow as a leader over the next 8 months.
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