A lot of people go through a phase where they change what they want to be when they “grow up” every other day or every day for some people. Of course, as children, people dream of being a police officer, firefighter, or doctor, but as you get older, those dreams tend to fade, and you become more realistic.
As far back as I can remember, every weekend, I would play “school” as I used to call it, and I would set up all my stuffed animals in my room and teach them all day long. When my sister started to get older and would want to play with me, I would make her sit on the floor with my stuffed animals and learn everything I had to teach them that day (which was just me talking to myself for the day). From that point on, I had always wanted to be a teacher. I still remember on the first day of second grade; we made “All About Me” posters. I drew a teacher in the occupation box. I have always had a special spot in my heart for my stuffed animals, and it never changed until I started to get older. As soon as I entered middle school, being a teacher didn’t seem as exciting anymore as it had seemed when I was younger. This was when I went through the phase of changing what I wanted to be all the time. Every day having something new that I was interested in just seemed to be normal, and there was nothing wrong with that. After many changes of occupations, I had somehow convinced myself that being a Meteorologist was the way to go! So, for a good month, I wanted to report the weather every day. I don’t know another 12-year-old that would aspire to go tornado chasing, but you know it seemed fun at the moment!
When I was deciding on where I wanted to go to High School, the question of what I wanted to be when I grew up always popped up, and it was never the easiest question to answer. Picking a high school was about how much I thought I would thrive in a school. I knew that being able to help people was a passion that I already had, and I felt that the change between academics and shop would be the best fit for me. As some people may know, I currently go to Upper Cape, and I am in the Health Technology program there. I have the pleasure of being enrolled in the Co-op program for my shop where I get to work with the children at Bright Ideas! Most of my friends work at Nursing homes, Assisted Living Facilities, or even Rehabilitation Facilities. After three years of exposing myself to clinical sites and receiving my CNA license, I knew that nursing just wasn’t for me. What makes me happy every day is being able to see all the children at Bright Ideas. I have found my passion for helping kids everyday and watching them grow as individuals. I plan to major in Elementary Education when I go to college in the fall so that I can live out my dream every day I go to work. I am so happy that I was exposed to so many career paths at a young age, and was really able to sort what kind of careers I like and dislike.
I believe that we genuinely don’t know what we want to be when we “grow up” until we jump in and experience it for what it truly is. Working at Bright Ideas has brought back the memories of me playing “school” with my sister surrounded by stuffed animals. I love watching all the kids dress up as who they want to be and being able to dream of what they want to become. As you get older, it sometimes feels like your dreams can get farther away before they grow closer, but as Walt Disney said: “Dreams really do come true”!
