As I sit back and reflect over my time as a teacher over the past 4 years I see some major changes. The main thing that I see that has changed is “relationships”. I have begun to build closer and closer relationships with my students and I am finding that this has allowed for me to gain more insight into my students’ lives than anything. One way that I am able to successfully do that is using experiences from my Kenan internship to allow for my students to see their options in the region. So often I get students that have the “I have already given up on life and I am only 15” mentality, but with opening their eyes to what is available around them I have begun to see some changes.
Another “door” that has been opened is I am apart of Leadership Chatuge, which is a meeting of local leaders that allows for us to connect with one another and to allow for us to network even more. This has allowed for me to see even more aspects of problems in my community and ways that I can impact this.
For the Kenan Fellowship I know that it allows for teachers to network and develop their overall understanding, but in small communities like mine it has really allowed for me to “get the ball rolling” more and allowing for the community to be more involved. That being said this makes me VERY excited to see how long I can “ride this wave” and make a positive impact in my tiny, Appalachian community.