The Spark! – August 2018

 -Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird

I think this quote truly captures what Discovery stands for. I’ve always felt like Discovery gave me the perfect amount of space to be myself and figure out who that was. I started assistant teaching at Discovery right out of college. I was 21 years old and I didn’t know what I wanted to do. What started as a temporary summer job as a camp assistant turned into my life for the next four years. All my memories of Discovery kind of blend into one, however, I have the strongest memories of that first year with the Turtles two-year-old camp group. I was Josh Max’s assistant and his ability to look for the fun in every situation made that summer so memorable. Don’t get me wrong, it was also exhausting, but the silly things the Turtles say and do made it all worthwhile. I fell in love with teaching that first summer and I realized this was something I truly wanted to pursue.   

The first year of head teaching was incredibly hard and I had so much to learn, but I am forever grateful for the guidance I received from Katie and Julia. That year I always felt like I had no idea what I was doing, but Katie was always so supportive and reassuring and had faith in me. I always knew that she had my back and that made me feel confident in my abilities. 

As I leave Discovery, there is so much I’ve learned that I am excited to take with me. However, I think it all goes back to the quote from the beginning: watch the magic that unfolds when you give a person the perfect amount of space to grow. I hope as I continue to teach I too can give students the support and encouragement that Discovery has given me and help them become the remarkable people they are meant to be.