Brianna's Graduation

May 2, 2014 I (Brianna) finally graduated from Utah Valley University (used to be UVSC when I started my first year there) with a Bachelor's in Elementary Education. Why stress the finally? Because by national statistics, it took me almost twice as long to get my undergraduate and in the amount of time someone could have received their master's and maybe on their way to a PhD.

Regardless, I did it.
After looking back on those 7 years that I put into finding out what I was meant to be, it's humbling to see how much I accomplished in those 7 years.

Through those 7 years I:
-Got rejected by BYU twice. I desperately wanted to go there but God had other plans for me.
-Freshman year of college was an atom bomb. I failed Chemistry...twice.
-I was apart of the music program and was positive that I was going to some successful vocal performer.
-I decided to audition for the Latter-Day Celebration* choir at the LDS Institute on campus. I was rejected.
- I made a lot of friends and had many grilled cheese sandwiches in the cafeteria with my friend Blue.
-I dated and played around, more than I did my work. I was just scraping by.
-Had to retake Math 1000 three times before passing.
-I auditioned again for the Latter-Day Celebration choir and was excepted as a 2nd Soprano.
-I switched my major to Behavioral Science.
-I took Marriage & Family classes, Sociology, Psychology, and Sex Psych.
-I changed my major to Exercise Science. (Lasted only a semester...didn't want to do the additional chem classes)
-Took a Child Development class and failed it because I succumbed to other's opinions of the teacher.
-Performed many solos in LDC* and had the spirit in my life every single day for a year and a half. -Was pointed in the direction of the Nauvoo, IL performing mission which would change my life for the better and prepared me to finally take the step towards marriage.
-The summer of my mission I received revelation that I needed to apply and get into the Elementary Education program.
- I got into the program and started the two year program with eyes wide open. I was finally getting some right.
-Dated my now husband for two years of my college life before excepting his hand in marriage we married.
- I started the program and I couldn't have done any better. Suddenly I was good at something, really good. I enjoyed the material, the science behind teaching, and was getting high GPA's.
-I met one of my best friend's, Leah. (Who happened to get married the same day as me)
-I observed for countless hours in many different classrooms, came to terms with my own adequateness, and learned more about myself, my confidence, and my abilities over such a short amount of time.
-I was scared to find that I was good at teaching and kept fighting an internal battle to own and realize that was the truth.
-I student taught with Veraunica, Leah, and then by myself for 55 hours.
-In my final year I was pregnant through my who student teaching experience and had to take three weeks off in the middle of it to have my son (another post will be a 3 month update, birth story, and everything in between I haven't had time to write)  
-I finished my student teaching, wrote and aced my student project, graduate with a 3.4 (where the cause of such a low GPA was the result of 4 failed classes throughout my stay, but my accomplishment was raising the GPA from a 2.7 to a 3.4 in 2 years. Not bad eh?)
-Walked across that stage proudly.
-Attended a job fair in March and was offered a job at Doral Academy in Las Vegas, NV starting August 13 as a Full-day Kindergarten teacher.

The other day I was filling out a survey for an online course I am taking to continue my educator education and I was able to put "Bachelor's" for What type of Education. It felt incredible.
Now here are some pictures of the Graduation day!
Woo-hoo, 2014!

Happy Graduation Day!