Freshman Academy: I'm seriously getting paid to do this?

In my second Winter semester I was jobless, but I quickly began to consider working at Freshman Academy.

Now I was part of Freshman Academy as a freshman and I really enjoyed it. Mostly because if I hadn't been in it I wouldn't have made any freshman friends at all since I lived off campus. I didn't need it academically, but socially it really helped me. And since I'm a future teacher and like the idea of helping people and working with teenagers (even if they are only a couple of years younger than me) I decided to apply!

I still remember my interview very clearly, Sharon Bigelow my future supervisor was in there as well as Lori Frodsham who I later worked with. I didn't remember ever being that nervous for a job interview! Maybe it's because it was the first time I'd actually ever had a job interview? Perhaps.

But I got the job! And I started in the Spring with training. For the entire first term I just trained with all the new peer mentors and learned what the program was all about. It was one of the first times I said an oft repeated phrase "I'm seriously getting paid to do this?". Training would consist of reading conference talks or studies on education, how people learn, how to help people, how to be a good person, etc. All things that help you as a mentor. And a person. I attended a bunch of workshops on how to be a good student also, so my grades were pretty good as a peer mentor.

That summer I got my first batch of students and I was a co-mentor with Dan Giullian. Dan and I were very different, but I learned a lot from him. I had great students who were super fun and delightful. I attended their American Heritage class with them sometimes as well as their Book of Mormon class. I remember the first time I finally attended their American Heritage lab and I was so disappointed that I hadn't been doing it all semester. They cracked me up! They were having a debate and their TA was George Washington. I don't think I participated in the debate much but that's where I got a gem of a quote from Matthew Page. You'll also see there a quote from Spencer Sutton when I attended their University 101 class for the first time. Another mistake that I didn't go to that class with them more!

I loved my first students! They were so kind and fun and great to get to know. They're not starting to get back from their missions and I see them on my facebook feed but don't feel like they remember me quite enough to say anything to them...oh social awkwardness.

That Fall I was put in the Humanities community with three other co-mentors and 38 students of my own. Oh and Lauri Haddock was the professor, so my very own Humanities 101 professor became my students' professor. I never thought she would have remembered me because I never spoke in her class, but she totally did! My co-mentors/new best friends were Chelsea Blotter-now-Storrs, Brooke Ford, and Jolysa Sedgwick. Those girls got me through some tough times that year.

My students were so fantastic! I still remember that by the time I met them I basically already had their names memorized because I had their pictures in a database. And by the about second day of class, one of my students who had been silently observing me asked me "How do you know all of our names?". I truthfully told her it was probably just a gift from God because I rarely have an affinity for names.

Some of these students I still associate with on a weekly basis as they are in my singles ward. :) But I had great experiences with these students, they were really talented and funny and kind. We had a talent show at one point in the semester and I learned that one of my students is basically the most amazing singer/pianist of ever. Jonny Vance. Look for him. One day he will be famous and he had better get me backstage.

The next semester I didn't have any students and everyone was working on projects except for me because I was so busy with SPAC and 276 (the-class-with-so-many-credit-hours-and-not-enough-worth). So I read a LOT of General Conference articles and devotionals, etc. And some awesome books. Seedfolks! You should read that book. And A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink (see the video for his book Drive under "Really Fantastic Things").

About halfway through the semester I began to seriously feel that I should quit. This was heartbreaking. I knew that if I made the touring team for folk (PAC) I would never have the time to devote to my students. However to be honest, me making PAC at that point seemed like it would never happen. But I still felt like I should quit. So I quit. And cried to Sharon when I quit, but she seemed to understand. I stepped into the dark and it was thoroughly frightened.

Thankfully, the day after I quit I heard from Lauri saying she would love me to be her TA for Humanities 101 (which I had now sat through twice by now after attending with my students). And so began my epic friendship with Lauri. :)