Major

                My major here at ISU is psychology. I originally wanted to be an early childhood education major. But by the time I decided this at the end of senior year, the program was all full. So I was going to have to wait to get into the program. But over Christmas break, I took a day to job shadow a lady that changed my mind. She is a school psychologist and she works in a couple preschools. I went with her to one school in Decatur one day to observe the classrooms and the teachers’ classroom techniques. But as we (Sheree and I) went around to each different classroom, observing the one “target” child for that day, I found that I really enjoyed just sitting back and observing one child at a time for struggles they may be having. The last half of the day, we tested one little boy for autism. It was soooo interesting; I loved it. At the beginning of the day, Sheree had told me her goal that day was to switch my major from education to psychology. At first, I just laughed it off. By the end of the day, it wasn’t so funny anymore. She had reached her goal.

In February, I applied to be an official psychology major, and I got it! I am very excited about my major now. Even though I will have to go to graduate school (which I’d rather avoid), I think it will be worth it in the end. I realize now that this will be a way better position for me than being a teacher. I still love working with little kids, but now I get to work one-on-one with them to help the ones struggling find a “game plan” to learn better; something I will like much better than trying to keep twenty-something kids’ attention all day, every day. I am considering adding a child studies minor, I think it will be beneficial (and I heard it’s easy). I am also looking into volunteering next year at a place here in Normal called The Autism Place. There I would be able to work with children who had this disability. I am very excited about my major and the  work I plan to do in the future. 380