2/09/10 a day to remember!

Here is a picture of myself posing next to a painted-portrait of "LadyBird" Johnson in the White House. Yes I was an invited guest into the White House yesterday, and it was a day that I will never forget! I am 24 years old and I have not just seen the the White House, but I was an invited guest as well, wow I could a die a happy woman with that experience alone.

I was a volunteer/chaperon for this event hosted by the Obama's called A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement: In Performance at the White House. This event featured a live concert with performances by Smokey Robinson, The Freedom Fighters, Jennifer Hudson, Bob Dylan, and John Mellencamp just to name a few of the artists. If you don't know who Yolanda Adams is, then look her up because she was the highlight of the entire show! She is a Gospel Singer that can sing anyone's heart out. This concert may seen on PBS Thursday night.

The day also included educational experience for 112 high schoolers from selected high schools across the nation. These lucky kids were chosen to take part in a journey learning about how music empowered, strengthened and inspired different Civil Rights Movements all across the country in the 1960s. The journey included a new documentary created by Danny Glover, a press conference with Smokey Robinson and other musical guests as well as the First Lady.

But the beauty of life is that always takes interesting twists and turns on you, even when you are organized to a tee. Well life might not have taken a different turn, but the weather in Washington DC sure did! DC is experiencing it's worst snow storm since 1899. While the city was closed even before our arrival on Monday due to blizzard like conditions, with storm conditions worsening on Wednesday. Wednesday (today) was supposed to be the day that the education program and concert were supposed to be happening. While we all were expecting snow, we were not expecting a BLIZZARD. But as they say in Hollywood...the show must go on!

The show did go on, a day earlier a few musicians and high schools short! We moved all of the program to yesterday and ran it to the best of our ability. I was in charge of conducting a press conference, which actually in turn ended up being a lecture-story time about music and the civil rights told through the voices of some of the artists performing. It was so amazing to hear countless stories from these musicians that not just lived through this period, but were actively engaged in the whole process.

I think the best part of the day was seeing the kids so inspired, so fascinated and so thankful to be part of this experience, and of course shaking hands and waving to the President and the First Lady too! For one girl it was her first time outside of California and here she was in the White House. For another girl it was the chance to meet Smokey Robinson, an idle of hers because he was like a brother to the late and great Michael Jackson. Talking with one boy yesterday changed his life! But for an entire group of mostly boys and mostly African-American yesterday was the chance to show off their brand-new, savvy, outfits, scarfs, and hats all donated by the LA Kings because these students did not own nice outfits and could not afford them! It was a chance for those boys to truly witness a dream. For a group of students from Lakewood, Ohio they were invited to sit close to the President and First Lady during the concert. I remember seeing one boy so happy, he had tears in his eyes. It was moments like that, that made yesterday special and continue to inspire and motivate myself to become a teacher.

Overall this was one amazing, heartwarming, rejunviating, special and beautiful days of my life! I was so blessed to not only have the opportunity to go to the White House, but I met the President, the First Lady and saw 112 high-schoolers lives change as well. Wow what a day!

Information about purchasing my book!

Hey everyone:

So I wrote a baseball book with my father (if you didn't know) and it comes out in about a month a half now. The release date of the book is March 9, 2010 just in time for the start of the 2010 Major League Baseball season. I know you all want to support me but times are hard right now and money is tight, which is why I am sharing this great news. If you pre-order my book through Amazon right now you can save $5.10 off the cover price, which reduces the price of book to $10.85! This is a great deal at the moment. If you were to buy two books at $10.85 you might even qualify for free shipping. Amazon gives free shipping for a purchase of $25.oo or over, and with tax you are probably looking at a final cost of around $25.00.

I know many of you are not baseball fans and that is okay. I am sure however, you have a friend, or maybe a father, mother, brother, boyfriend or girlfriend that is a baseball fan and would love a copy. Father's day is in June and this book might be a perfect gift for that holiday.

I know that the few of you that read this blog are great friends and I would really appreciate the support. I worked draft, after draft on helping my dad write this book and I am proud to present the final draft to all of you. I spent the entire 2009 summer and a few extra months, and winter break making sure this book turned out the best it could possibly be and I hope you not only support me, but love it as much I loved writing it!

Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Fans-Bucket-List-Experience/dp/076243855X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264359953&sr=8-1

Thank you for the support! I love all of you so much.

For the love of idioms

The English language is really complex as we all know and studied. I cannot believe how many words are borrowed from other languages. But one area of the English language that I am really fond of are idioms. Guess you can say they are the apple in my eye, or even a doozy. Seriously though, how great are they?

While my love for idioms has always been in my heart, I am finally releasing and sharing that love. I LOVE IDIOMS!

If you love idioms like I do, then you should check out this website because it shares some of American English's best idioms. http://www.idiomsite.com/

So my goal is to use an idiom a day. Today I used two, the first idiom I used was "Wow I have completely run out of steam..." and that was in preface to ending my day at elementary school in a 4th grade classroom and having to be so energized and excited when I was exhausted. I also talked to my mom about how I felt under the weather as well.

Hopefully tomorrow's idiom will have a bit more positivity attached to it. However, I am going to an education workshop over going skiing in fresh powder. I sound like I am no fun after admitting that. Oh well, what can you do? I guess I have my pritorities all in order. Wow I am growing up!

SO cheers to one of English languages best parts of speech.

Hold your glasses high for IDIOMS!

Seize that dream!

I was so depressed after reading in the local paper that Utah has the worst air quality in the U.S. Seriously you should see it outside for the last few weeks, UGLY! My precious lungs are inhaling so many gross pollutants and molecules. Not only that, but the snow fall this year has been minimal, which is even more depressing for all of us skiers and boarders. I feel bad for those people that moved out here solely to ski this year. I would recommend going to the Northwest where it has been dumping the whole year. Hopefully we'll check up eventually especially because some of us need to make use of our season pass! This is a random paragraph yes I know, but two topics that have been on my mind as of late.

On a happier note, my MAT classes this term are awesome. Since I am focusing on special education rather than elementary education (grant it I am getting endorsements in both) I am only in three method classes; science, math and language arts versus all six of them at the same time. I am also taking two special education classes as well. I just got a school placement to one of my favorite elementary schools in Salt Lake City! I cannot wait to get started in that school. I will be working with the special education teacher and I hope it will be a positive learning experience. I have heard excellent things about her so I am keeping my fingers crossed. What I am really looking forward to is working in two different after school programs this term. I think after school programs are a vital aspect towards helping our future children stay in school, build confidence, and keep them from engaging in RISKY behavior like drugs and gangs. I have a dream of starting my own after school program once I become a teacher, so having the opportunity to work in some will so helpful.

Since money is tight, I had to get a job on top of all the other requirements I have in my life. But I didn't want to settle on any job, I wanted one that could help build my resume and give me experience. So I created a profile on www.care.com which is a free sight to post a profile, resume, background check, and references for pet sitting, day care, special needs care, tutoring, housecleaning, and helping senior citizens. I applied for tutoring and special needs jobs constantly but no messages were sent back to me until last week. I was messaged by this mother who has a three and a half year old son with autism. She has these therapy sessions five days a week, for two hours each day working to improve the four cognitive areas that he is developmentally slower in. She wants me to be one of two tutors for her son Bryceson! I went to her house and observed one of the therapy sessions and was completely blown away. Before winter break I was starting to doubt if I wanted to become a special education teacher, and just observing him for two hours and seeing what the program was liked reaffirmed by desire and my dream to teach special education. Seriously I am born to teach kids like Bryceson and help turn them into the best students, and persons they can be. Working in this program allows me to work one-on-one through using positive, verbal reinforcement, help to develop and better different cognitive areas that he struggles with as well as get first hand experience working with a child that has autism. I will be collecting data on the interventions I try with him like a real special educator in a classroom! The coolest part to all of this is that I get to watch him grow up and see all the improvements he has made as well over the course of my time with him. I am so blessed to have been given such a wonderful opportunity. He is the cutest kid too and he loves to climb and I like to climb so we'll be a perfect match!

So while this term will kick my butt, it will also be so much fun. My friend Sean (whom just moved to Thailand to seize an opportunity and pursue his dream of becoming a professional blogger) basically wrote that we all need to be doing things that make us happy, and we need to take advantage of opportunities that come our way and I am doing that! He also went on to say that we should go after all of our dreams in life and not settle on something that does not make us happy and I totally agree. I am going after the career aspiration of my dream and I am having so much fun learning how to become a teacher that I could scream. Here I thought school could never be fun, but man was I wrong about that! So I am going to spread his message: GO AFTER YOUR DREAMS, GET THAT JOB THAT YOU HAVE ALWAYS WANTED! If I can do it, anyone can do it!

Cheers to you all and good luck my friends. Let me know the steps you are taking towards seizing your opportunities and following your dreams and I'll keep you posted on my progress as well

Marriage, what a joke! (Well at least for right now)

Since I live in Utah talking about marriage isn't really that big of an issue- actually it's the norm for us who are still in our early 20s. Everyone is obsessed with getting engaged, or becoming married and frankly it's starting to make me feel sick to my stomach. Westminster College (my graduate school) prides itself on being this great liberal arts school that is progressive, independent and a school to really help us for our futures even supports this notion that getting married when we are young in our 20s in totally cool and progressive. Heck I have seen two different bridal magazines in the bookstore. COME ON, are you serious?

Only in Utah I would say, but the truth is this type of attitude is everywhere. So many of my friends from high school, from college and now from Utah have either recently gotten in engaged or have recently gotten married. WE are only 23, 24 and 25. While I support all of them and am so happy for them, it's a bit ridiculous. People have told me recently that I am just bitter because I am not one of those 24 year olds that is engaged or married, well I AM NOT BITTER and I AM NOT JEALOUS. Honestly I have my whole life to get married. I am only 24 once and I have bigger plans, dreams and aspirations to experience then getting married. We are in our ideal time in our lives to travel, to move, and to continue our path towards our career aspirations. THIS IS IT! This is the time we have to be "selfish" for ourselves. If I want to go to Peru for language school this summer for a few months, I can without having to consult anyone else. That might sound really selfish of me, but that what this time is for.

I am attending graduate school right now for Teaching and I couldn't be more happy. I am following my dreams! When I told my dad that I wanted to get my Masters in Teaching he wasn't too happy because he wanted me to work in sports. He said "Jenna you should work in sports, you are so talented and you would be really good at working in Sports Information." Well I tried that and hated it, so instead of staying in a career I hated I moved on. Now if I was married or engaged I might have stayed put working in the sports world. I am currently living my life the way I want to live it, and I couldn't be happier.

When you live your life the way you want to live it, good things happen. I do have an amazing boyfriend who maybe in the future I could see marrying, but definitely not right now! My goals involve becoming a special education teacher, traveling to South America to go to language school to better my spanish, become a better rock climber, visit old friends whom I rarely see anymore like Sarah Lake and continue to have random adventures. Heck I want to be FINANICAL stable before I even consider marriage. So while there are tons of us 24 year olds that feel a lot of pressure to get married, resist it and continue to do the things that you want to do in your life to MAKE YOU HAPPY! If marriage would make you find bliss, then get married. Get married for you versus society, religion, friends, or even your significant other because at the end of the day its YOU that needs to be happy, feel accomplished and feel good.

So for all those single gals you don't need to put a ring on it. Travel, visit friends, laugh, go for your dreams prior to putting a ring on it!