The Last Week

There was a bittersweet feeling at my last staff meeting on Monday. I was there with the staff that I had become so accustomed too over the past weeks. I saw them all as mentors, but more importantly as my friends. I had worked with almost all of them throughout my time at the Creek, so they were near and dear to my heart. I was going to end my time here and when I said it was my last staff meeting, I could see some of them have a small look of sadness. I didn’t dwell on it too much, but it was still saddening in the back of my mind.

This week I was going to finish up with some traveling bird shows that would take me to teach some different audiences in different places. I was excited to do this, and help further my education on Birds of Prey and non-formal education. On Tuesday, there were three of us who would be going to the Sheetz Distribution Center for an Earth Day celebration. This was sort of a festival, but we were just showing the birds to the employees and helping to promote the different parts of the environment that Shaver’s Creek provides to the public. It was a rainy day, and we probably did shows for at least 200-300 people cycling throughout the day. I really enjoyed the opportunity and we even received some freebies from the corporation for coming to the celebration.

As I was doing a program, I saw someone taking a picture of me. I like to think that I am a photogenic person, but I didn’t know what it was going to be for. I realized the guy was a reporter and he asked me for my name. I was really excited to see where the picture would end up, and it was actually put into the Altoona Mirror newspaper. It was some good publicity for Shaver’s Creek. The picture was pretty awesome, and I don’t mind being in the paper as well.

On Wednesday, I got up early to take a trip to Gettysburg to see Mr. Cremeans in action and check out their Ag program. I was blown away at the facilities that Gettysburg had. They were very well off with equipment and other items that really further learning to the students. There were many projects the teachers did on their own with help from the students. I was really impressed by the variety that was taught and how the CTC department was run. I had never seen such a vast and well put together section of career and tech classrooms. Needless to say, if all classrooms were like that students would have no technological disadvantages. I left that day with a whole new perspective on what an Ag classroom could look like, and it was very eye opening.

Thursday was another traveling show. We would be going to Shawnee State Park in Bedford to teach 6^th graders. They were doing these field days that broadened their knowledge going along with the environment and ecology standards. I got to use some new birds in the presentation, like the Red-Shouldered Hawk and the Great Horned Owl, and just talking about them was a great new change of pace. We had some beautiful scenery for this show overlooking a lake and even a beach! It was a gorgeous day and even more fun teaching about birds.

My last days at Shaver’s Creek have been amazing and I could not have had a better experience student teaching. On my last day of student teaching, one of my program directors asked me what I was doing for the summer. I said nothing and she offered me to help out with the summer camp at Shaver’s Creek. I was very excited for this opportunity and I think maybe it could lead to some other opportunities that I might enjoy.

You never really know where life will take you. People keep asking me what I plan on doing after graduation, but honestly I have no idea. The only thing I am doing is keeping an open mind. If there’s anything I learned from this experience it's flexibility and open-mindedness. You can’t always have a plan for something, and it’s not always in your control. Sometimes going with the flow can create the best opportunity or end product for you or the audience taught. I can’t believe I am done with student teaching, buy it was something I will never forget.

It was a pleasure to write for you.