Somehow I Graduated

Natalie and I drove back to our college town over our winter break and picked up our degrees. I still can’t believe I graduated. During my first semester of college I took 4 incompletes during my first semester of my senior year. I missed 3 weeks due to fears that I contracted Spinal Tuberculosis. I ended up negative (yay!), but have since learned that my chronic pain was caused by a fractured Spinal Stenosis, a herniated disk, and arthritis (this is straight up not a good time).

In my first semester as a teacher, I’ve been honest with my students that school was always a struggle for me. I think I knew graduating college was always going to be difficult. I do not think I appreciate just how difficult it was going to be. Graduation day was a day filled with mixed emotions. I had finished student teaching, my 55 page KPTP (a requirement to get certified as a teacher) and was standing amongst countless people as we crossed the finished line. But I wasn’t done yet, I still had 6 classes to complete. Not only that, but I found out that even with a summer graduation, I may not be licensed in time to get a teaching job in Colorado.

I wouldn’t have graduated without my Mom. In my student teaching semester, one filled with constant nights of 2-3 hours of sleep, 2 hours on the road each day, college classes, doctor’s appointments, and working a job, there were many nights where I thought I might end up dropping out. But there was more than one day where I got a knock on my door, and a person was standing there with a pack of 12 Starbucks Doubleshots. A delivery sent from my Mom. Those were a godsend. They were the drink my Mom had when she went back to school to become a teacher. I was in third grade, and my Mom was a full time student, student teaching, balancing a 36 hour a week job, and had someone negotiated with the bank to stop them from seizing my house. I thought of my Mom a lot, at times I even thought of some Lord of the Rings quotes of “the same blood runs through my veins” if she could do it, I could too. Her belief in me never wavered, we definitely had phone calls filled with tough love, but she always reminded me that I could do this — as she had from the beginning.

My incredible gal, Natalie. Who graduated shortly after surgery.

My girlfriend, Natalie (gnat), was also a big reason why I graduated. Her passion for teaching was infectious. She dressed up in a shark costume to teach her high schoolers French. Watching her with students inspired me to want to be the best teacher I could be. My Mom told me that she felt I had lost my fire a bit for teaching until I met her. Nat never lost faith in me either. Two weeks after we started dating we had to weigh whether or not we could make the leap together. The french teachers she talked to advised leaving Kansas, as often French was the first program cut due to Brownback’s budget cuts (a bad thing, considering French will be the most spoken language in the world by 2050). She wanted to go to Philadelphia, I wanted to go to Colorado, so naturally, we chose Philly. Nat applied to 50 jobs, I applied to 1. I got an interview, Nat did not. I want to thank the HR person who was kind enough to call Nat and tell her that her Canadian Citizenship would pose a major barrier for her getting a job in the city, because after that call, Nat asked “What about Colorado?” I cancelled my interview, and immediately we set our sights out west.

Nat had 8 calls back from Colorado schools in the next week.

This, however, is where I started hitting some major snags. I had two interviews cancelled when the Colorado Public Schools I applied to found out my graduation date was August 8th. The state required my graduation to happen before August 1st in order for me to teach in a public school. I sort of hit bottom when the full time In School Suspension position I applied for was also denied on the basis of my graduation date. I informed my parents that I was taking the leap with Natalie and going to work at Applebee’s for the first year in Colorado. I like serving and bartending, and above all else, I just wanted to be with Natalie. My parents were a bit baffled. I had three KS schools who reached out expressing their interest in hiring me, but had no such luck in Colorado. My fortunes changed when the charter school Nat was hired at responded to my application for their open tech position. They informed me that they did not have to honor the State of Colorado’s requirements for my graduation date, and before I knew it I had found my first teaching job.

I thought I was in the clear, but one of my college professors did not accept my doctor’s notes about my back injuries and informed me that I would not be passing their psychology class. This was a scary time. The professor told me to “look at this as a learning experience.” I informed them that this would quite literally cause me to lose my first job, and that this “learning experience” caused by a chronic injury of mine, would likely damage my life. This professor was resolute. I sent out an all call on Yik-Yak, desperate for a solution, when I was informed that I had access to KU’s Student Legal Services. I was surprised by this. I had attended KU for 5 years and never knew I had access to a full legal team to help in situations like this. I had one meeting with the SLS. They contacted the Dean of the School of Psychology. In 1 hour I had an email from the professor of the PSYC class. Who informed me that there had been a “misunderstanding” and that I would be able to receive credit to pass their class. Though I ended up with a 69.9 in that class to pass, I do feel thankful that this professor and I found a common ground. College students, take it from me - get to know your access to your on-campus student legal services.

I drove out to Colorado in August. Worked out a payment plan to pay down my remaining balance to KU - and I was in the clear… until I found out that KU would not be giving me my transcript until my remaining balance (somewhere between $1,000-$2,000) was paid in full. There was no student legal service I could go to here. It did not matter that I had passed all of my classes and done the work necessary to get my degree, without the money to purchase that all important piece of paper, KU had no obligation to give me my transcript. This was due to a regulation that expired during the Reagan Administration - and is often cited among the movement to “corporatize” college. Monument Academy informed me that they’d legally have to let me go on August 21st if I did not have my transcript. So I was up against it.

When I told my parents about this, they said “get off of our phone plan and we got you covered.” Deal. My parents and I split the college costs 50/50, so I owe them a lot. They had money saved up and were thinking about starting a college fund for my brother. They were able to re-direct that to cover my costs here. Now I have to work to thank my brother, too. It’s the least I can do.

“Goghin’ on an adventure”

Nat and I have been in Colorado for a semester now — and our first job could not be going any better. In many ways, teaching technology has been like a “Disney Movie Ending” for me. My students have created powerful Digital Legacy Projects, and Nat is off to a wonderful start building her French Curriculum. How this all came together still baffled me, but I’m left feeling incredibly thankful for the people in my life who made it all possible.