One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education

® Teach For America

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For the past few months I have been undergoing an application process for the Teach For America corps. I turned my application in after a month of scrutinizing every bit of information I was giving to their arduous process, and making sure I was demonstrating my merits and my skills to make myself the best candidate that I could be. When I clicked the "submit" button my heart was pounding, and I knew it was out of my hands.

About two weeks later I found out if I was going to receive a phone interview or not, and lo and behold I did! I went onto the application center on the Teach For America website, scheduled my appointment for my phone interview, made sure I would be somewhere quiet and peaceful when I had to answer the phone, and waited. When 9:30 AM came on my interview day, when I was nestled in my bed, wearing my favorite pajamas, with a copy of my resume, and every bit of information I'd ever given to Teach For America laid out in front of me, and my heart pounding in my chest, I was as nervous as I think I've ever been in my life. That was when I got my phone call. By the time the interview was done I felt a lot more at ease, and a lot more confident in my abilities and my merits to be a part of this amazing mission. That was when the waiting game began to learn if I got in to the final round.

After the waiting game was over, and finding out that I was accepted into the final interview round, and logging on to the applicant center, and scheduling my interview for Wednesday, October 16th, the waiting game began yet again. Now, being a college student in Hawaii, and prior to that a High School student in Hawaii, my whole life, I can honestly say that I don't have very many, if any, professional clothes in my wardrobe. The weeks before my interview were spent finding professional attire, which consisted of a knee-length blue dress from Old Navy, with a high collar and cap sleeves, and simple black covered shoes, and reviewing my resume and application over and over and over again, reading Teach For America's mission statements and blogs and talking to friends who are corps members to make sure I was as prepared as possible for my interview. After the interview, I waited until Halloween to hear the news, there were a few nightmares, a few anxieties, a few conversations with current corps member friends for reassurance, and ultimately, the news. I GOT ACCEPTED TO THE 2014 TEACH FOR AMERICA CORPS TEACHING ENGLISH IN HAWAII! 

I am currently going through the process of figuring out what I have to do next. I know I have to register for and take two Praxis II tests (likely English and Social Studies) and go from there to figure it all out. Also I will be going to Arizona in June for five weeks for Institute, where I pretty much get to go through teacher boot camp! 

That's all I've got for now in the way of my professional progress!