Back-to-School

The above photo of me is from my first day of first grade. Are you wondering why there is a panda pinned to the middle of my chest area? I was, too, so I asked Pep and she said that she pinned it on me that morning and told me that if I got nervous while I was away at school, that I could rub the panda to know that she was thinking of me. She then watched as I got on the bus and never turned back.

I found this panda pin the other day while going through an old jewelry box. I'm going to wear it tomorrow. Do you know why?

BECAUSE I AM GOING BACK-TO-SCHOOL.

That's right, HSCOOC, I'm heading back to UNLV to pursue (another) degree in teaching. If we're friends, this makes sense. Especially if we were friends when I was using my mom's grade book while writing A + with 5 stickers on your assignments.

For those of you that are like "Say wha??? I thought you did AWESOME PR WORK??" I would say, first off, I do. I do do (that ain't gonna fly in the classroom) awesome PR work but I am not sure I want to be doing awesome PR work in my 50's. And I love my job. I love the people I work for and the clients I have but would I love my job if I didn't work where I work for who I work for? IDK. And what happens when I want to blow this neon stand? It's not easy to land a PR job these days anywhere. Plus, I LOVE kids. Always have. I wanted to be a teacher when I was little but my mom told me if I wanted to make money, that wasn't the profession for me (she is a teacher). But, at 26 I've learned that I just plan on marrying rich so what does it matter (kidding) (kind of). No but srsly money isn't the most important thing. I want to shape young minds. I want every day to be different and unexpected. I want to have an impact on someones life and I don't know if grand openings at restaurants are going to do that for me. Now, I know teaching isn't a walk in the park but I do feel that it will be worth it.

Justified enough?

So tomorrow starts my first day back at school. I'm joining the Graduate Licensure Program - I know, sounds so official, doesn't it? I'm taking two classes this semester and at this rate, looks like two years from now, I'll be in the classroom as MS. KNOCH teaching first graders, all rubbing little pandas pinned to their chests.