7 Apr 2016
My Educational Goals
My goal is to obtain a Master of Arts in American History and Government (MAHG) Degree from Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio. The MAHG is a liberal arts graduate program designed for secondary school social studies teachers. I desire to excel in the rigorous graduate-level study with a focus in American governmental foundation and Constitutional law. I have been a Social Studies educator at Charlestown High School in Charlestown, Indiana, which is a part of the Greater Clark County Schools, for twelve years. I am currently our school’s United States Government and Economics teacher.
How TBI Has Affected My Life
I remember teaching on April 3, 2012. I remember what my students and I were studying that day. However, I do not recall suffering a traumatic brain injury. At approximately 6:45 that evening, as I did most evenings, a friend and I were exercising by walking around my town. Across the street from the school at which I teach and also graduated from, as a pedestrian I was hit by a driver under the influence of drugs. The erratic and irresponsibility of the driver’s actions hit me from behind, smashing me into the windshield, and then throwing my body approximately fifty-five feet down the street. I landed on my head, which caused me to suffer subdural and epidural hemorrhage, skull fracture, and spinal vertebrae fracture of C1-C4. I was intubated on the street, and then stat-flight took me to the University of Louisville Trauma. Neurosurgeons performed a craniectomy and placed me in a medically-induced coma. After being cared for in ICU for nine days, I was transferred to Southern Indiana Rehabilitation Hospital. Between in-patient and out-patient care, for the next eight months I was cared for by physical, speech, occupational, vision therapy, and Neuro Rehab programs. I had to be retaught balance, coordination, cognitive skills, how to walk, and how to efficiently speak in complete sentences again. I showed my hard work and determination so well that I was able to return to teaching for the spring semester which began in January, 2013!
Suffering a TBI has affected my life by teaching me to never give up. I have always been a strong-willed, hard headed person (no pun intended). My determination to accomplish my goals has only increased. One of my passions is to raise awareness to our community about TBIs and correcting misnomers that currently exist. Charlestown is a small town, and my accident was covered by the local news, out of Louisville, Kentucky, many times the first few days after it occurred. When people come up to me to ask how I am doing, they do so very loudly and very slowly. I often get told that people are amazed at how well I have recovered, because after a brain injury, people “often lose some of their intelligence”. Sadly, even people in a professional level, such as my school district, say this to me. I do everything in my power to take deep breaths when this is said. I smile and tell others to never doubt how determined and motivated we are for our recovery. I have always had a passion for learning. Anything historical, political, or economic are my favorite topics to study and learn more about. But surviving the accident has motivated me even more to pursue my dreams.