Friday 9 September 2011

All About Me!

I was born in Toronto and grew up in Markham (northeast of Toronto).  I graduated from high school after 4 years - back then that was "fast-tracking" since high school was actually 5 years.  I entered a B.Sc. program in Microbiology at University of Toronto (Scarborough) and completed 2 years there.

In 1998, I married my sweetheart, moved to Guelph and transferred to University if Guelph's Microbiology program.  In my first year there, I took some biochemistry courses as my restricted electives and discovered how much I enjoyed this subject!  As a result, I changed my major to biochemistry, and used my microbiology credits towards a minor.

I completed my Hon. B.Sc. with a Major in Biochemistry and a Minor in Microbiology in Dec of 2001 from the University of Guelph.  Through-out my education I worked part-time at my husband's laboratory and continued working there full-time after I graduated.

At the lab, I had a variety of opportunities to broaden my skills and experience while working both in a technical position in the laboratory and an administrative position in the office.  I learned a great deal about office management and customer service!

In August 2003 we were blessed with a beautiful baby girl, Raadha and the following November we welcomed another blessing - our little boy, Raam.  So began the "Mom" chapter of my life.  It was hectic and exhausting but also the MOST rewarding job of my life! Raising these babies into functional human beings was quite the task, but I managed to do my best at it.

When the kids started school, I returned to the laboratory as a technician and tried to balance work and family.  Whilst attempting this, my daughter begged me to "help out" in her kindergarten classroom.  The day I did, sealed my fate!  I was welcomed with open arms by her most wonderful teacher and I made it a point to volunteer in the classroom on a regular basis.

I took that summer off to be home with my kids and as the summer came to an end and I was looking at going back to the lab, I realized that I would much rather be working with children.  On a leap of courage and faith, I told my husband that I would like to apply to a position that involves working with children as opposed to in a lab.

I was immediately hired my the YMCA-YWCA of Guelph and started out in the child care.  I then moved on to the Youth & Preschool Dept. where I relished planning and running the preschool program and youth programs.  I especially enjoyed teaching the cooking class "Kids in the Kitchen" - teaching 6-12 year olds how to cook!

I continued my volunteering in my childrens' classes and expanded this to volunteering to teach "Art Image" lessons as well to Gr. 5 and Gr. 6 classes.  I finally had found my passion for teaching!

I channeled this passion into creating and running an educational after school program for children.  I also worked for Mad Science, as Mad Scientist "Beaker" and thoroughly enjoyed teaching science to primary students.

Throughout all this I was given very positive and encouraging feedback from a variety of different people and this always led to the same question of "Why aren't you a teacher?  You'd be a great one!"

So, once again on a leap of faith and courage I decided to apply to B.Ed. programs at Wilfrid Laurier University and Brock University.  The application process was a bit stressful and imagine my surprise when I found out I was accepted into the programs!!

I had my choice of P/J (K-Gr. 3) and J/I (Gr. 3 - 6) ate Laurier or I/S (Gr. 7-12) Chemistry & Biology at Brock University.  Though all my educational experience has been with primary and junior students, I decided to challenge myself and accept the admission offer from Brock University for the I/S program.

So here I am - starting University again after 10 years!  It will be interesting to see how well I can juggle being a student, a mom and a wife all together!

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