Saturday, September 26, 2009

Stewart Falls

It's kind of become a tradition for me to hike Stewart Falls each fall semester. I just love seeing the beautiful colors and getting outside. Part of the tradition includes collecting colorful leaves on the way back to decorate my apartment. I just absolutely adoring hiking.

As we hiked back, we passed a small family with their two little children working their way up the trail. I commented about how beautiful a day it was for hiking, and the mother responded, "Better than cartoons, eh?" How true! Yeah, it's a little bit more work to get up and go hiking then sit in your pajamas in front of the TV, but how much more rewarding! Kudos to that mom, I want to be a parent like her!


Thursday, September 24, 2009

Past the First Round!

I made it to the final interview! I'm so excited! Now I've got to decide where I want to go and what grade level and subject I should teach. Any ideas?

Dear Drake,

Congratulations! It is with pleasure that I invite you to Teach For America's interview day. We enjoyed learning about you in your application and would appreciate the opportunity to meet you in person. You have advanced directly to the final interview stage and will not be participating in a phone interview. For more information about our process, please click here.

Teach For America's day-long interview is a unique opportunity to demonstrate your skills in a variety of contexts and to engage in issues related to educational inequality with a talented group of applicants. To help you prepare for your interview day, we have posted information and materials on the Applicant Center that explain what to expect, how to prepare, and what to bring with you.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Teach For America

Okay, so if you don't know about this, you need to know about this, because it's going to be my life for the next two years (hopefully!). Basically, Teach For America is an organization that recruits top college graduates who want to tackle the educational gap in America by placing them in low-income areas throughout the country to teach for two years in a K-12 classroom.

Teach for America is amazing, and you should totally check out their website to learn more: http://www.teachforamerica.org/family_friends/index.htm

Friday was the first deadline, and I submitted my application. Fingers crossed! I find out next Thursday my status. We had to submit a resume and letter of intent, among other things. I thought ya'll might like to read my letter of intent.

Teach For America Letter of Intent

by Drake Allsop

Two straight hours of calculus—for most of my classmates it was the bane of their high school experience. As for me, I looked forward to it. During the first hour, as Mr. Harris explained integrals and derivatives, I would ask lots of questions to make sure I understood. Then, during the second hour, I would quickly finish my homework so that I could spend the rest of the class helping my classmates. Fellow students would call me from across the room to come explain a difficult problem, and I was eager to help them arrive at the correct answer. In the first grade, when others dreamed of being firefighters and astronauts, I couldn’t think of anything I’d rather be than a teacher. My high school calculus class reminded me what I knew even back then—I’m a teacher at heart.

Sharing what I know with others is one of my greatest joys. When the light of understanding turns on for someone I’m teaching, my own life gets a little brighter. I want to become a Teach For America corps member because I love teaching and I understand how to help others learn. In addition, I want to make a difference in the world. I have been incredibly blessed, and I feel deeply that it is my duty and privilege to give back. I am constantly praying and searching for ways in which I can serve others. Teach For America will be a powerful way for me to make a difference and give back, while doing something I love.

As a corps member my goals would be threefold: I would want to improve myself as an educator and as a person, help those I teach to progress and reach their goals, and contribute to the growth and development of the other educators I work with, especially other corps members. I plan to continue learning and improving as a teacher during my entire corps experience. I would expect to set lofty goals with my students and work diligently alongside them to achieve our aims.

As passionate as I am about teaching, I might be even more passionate about learning. I enjoy reading books, watching documentaries, visiting museums, and asking questions to better understand the world around me. I would consider myself successful if I could ignite a spark of this same passion for learning in the students I teach. Success would be when a student gets so excited about learning that they go beyond the bounds of the class material to learn something on their own. Success would be when a student I’ve taught reaches out to help a classmate struggling with a difficult concept. Success would be when my students are not only prepared for the next step in their education, but excited for it. I will see success when habits of learning and achieving become an integral part of those students I’ve had the privilege to teach.

Sunrise on Mount Timpanogos

One of the things I love about college life is sometimes you just do crazy things--like hike up a dark mountainside all night so you can see the sunrise from the summit. Who does that?!

Well, 6 of my friends and I did, along with at least 100 other people last Saturday morning. The trail was hopping, I tell you! Here's a picture of us catching the first morning rays of sunshine.

So we left at 12:00am, reached the summit at 6:30am, and were back home at Park Plaza by 11:30am. You should have seen us stumble out of my car--dirty, sore, tired, and conquerors!

This picture is definitely going in my portfolio. I love the lighting and the color.


To Arches

Labor Day is the only day off we get this semester besides Thanksgiving, so some friends and I decided to make good use of it. Five of us snuggled into my car, and popped down to Moab early that morning. Turns out my roommate, who is from Utah, hadn't ever been to Arches! Crazy! I think this was my fifth time hiking Delicate Arch.



We also hiked Double O Arch in the afternoon. The first O you can see behind us, the second O is underneath it, just left of my head. We really had a great time, and on the way home everyone mentioned how it seemed like we'd been together for more than just 12 hours. We packed a lot of fun into our one day off!

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Wipeout

I've been boating a couple times since I got back and I think my rule of thumb is don't stop until you biff. Here's some of the fun I've had.