Interview.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Jacquelyn. Jacquelyn  grew up in North Hampton, moved to Whitehall, and now currently lives in Allentown with her boyfriend Jarid. They have been together six years. She is the middle child. She has an older brother named Eric who is in the National Guard. He has traveled to Iraq where is his job was to drive a tank and detonate bombs that are on the street. She also has a younger brother Matthew who wants to join the Marines. Jacquelyn has two dogs, Stevey and O’rion

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Jaquelyn plays piano and flute. The grandparents encourage the entire family to get into music. Her older brother Eric is a musical genius. Jaquelyn is currently learning Spanish. She wanted to learn another language that was more unique however she figures that Spanish is language that would benefit her the most to know.  After high school Jaquelyn started going to Bloomsburg University. She attended for a year, and then decided to leave because they didn’t have the major she wanted. At that time she was looking to go to school for Sign and Interpretation. Jaquelyn currently works full time at Fresenious Medical Care. She has been there for three years and spends her days verifying health insurance. She has decided to come to Cedar Crest College to receive her degree in social work. She wishes to use this degree towards a promotion at work. Although she enjoys what she does at work, her true passion is horses. Ever since Jaquelyn was a child she has gone horseback riding and even had a summer job in high school taking care of them. Twelve hour days and taking care of 30 horses was what she loved. She loved her job so much that she would work straight through the summer without a lot of days off.  The horse she rides every week is named Taffy. Even though Jaquelyn loves being with horses, it is not always easy. Along with the joy and relaxation that comes with riding horses, it has also brought broken bones. Jaquelyn has broken her foot and ribs. The worst accident experience was when she fell off of her horse while jumping over a bench.  If she could have any job in the world it would be a horse trainer, unfortunately, generic knee problems prevent that from happening. If Jaquelyn could go anywhere in the world she would travel to China and Ireland.

Teacher Unions

I always thought that teacher unions were there to help the system and the people in it. Watching "Waiting for Superman" really opened my eyes. I always know that teachers at colleges could get tenured into a school. Watching the video has really opened my eyes as how that is such a horrible thing expecially for teachers in elementary, midddle and high schools. I beleive that there are a lot of teachers out there that are tenured and feel like they don't have to work anymore or make sure that the students are learning what they are supposed to be. They go home with a paycheck no matter what the student goes home with so what does it matter to them. Tenured should be taken away from teachers in those schools. I teacher should always care what they are teaching the children like they are their own. The most disturbing part to me was when the one mom mentioned that education is only about adults. We have gotten way off track and allowed politics to affect schooling way to much. Why should the children have to suffer and be a part of lotteries. What happens to the children that don't make it. Why should the children have to suffer because of problems with adults and lazy teachers that decide teaching is not important anymore now that they are tenured. I don't belive in teacher unions anymore because they are the ones that support the broken school system and are preventing us from fixing it. I understand that they are there to support the teachers, however they need to fix the contract so that teachers that are not keeping their students learning and reaching levels that they are supposed to be at can leave. Everybody wants what is best for their child but they never see the big picture unless it happens to them or close to home. I truely believe that this movie has opened my eyes and I believe that teacher unions need to end or be fixed in order to fix they broken system.

Education

I grew up in Kutztown and attended Kutztown Area School District. In elementary school my teachers taught by the banking concept. The teachers would tell us what we had to know and stress that we had to obey strict classroom rules. There was no questioning what they taught us. We were to know the material even if we didn't understand why it was that way or how. Moving into middle school, there is only one teacher that sticks out that had a different teaching style outside of banking concept. My eighth grade english teacher allowed us to gather in groups and discuss books we had to read and debate what we felt was hidden meanings behind certain parts of the story. The rest of the teachers stayed within "the box" and talked at us and not to us. Kutztown Area High School full of teachers that would lecture too. Even in art class, people had to draw a certain way or had to have the pictures turn out a certain way up to the teachers standards. There was no straying from the path or trying something different. I have not had a lot of college experience, however at Cedarcrest College I am seeing a huge difference teaching styles. Four out of my five teachers I have had so far, have allowed us to discuss our opinions, thoughts, and feelings. There is not grade reduction for questioning why something is or how it works. These teachers have talked to us and made the class feel like they are part of it. I have learned just as much from fellow students as I have from the professor.

HI Everyone!
My name is Lauren Helffrich. I work at Walmart as a Zone Manager.I love my job however I know its not where I would like to be in five or ten years. Last year I decided to go to school and change the direction my life was headed. I used to think that accounting would be the major I would take when I went for college.  I decided that nursing and helping people is what I really want to do with my life. I have five beautiful neices and one nephew on the way. I don't have any children of my own yet, so I try to spoil all of them as much as I can.   I love being spontaneous and trying new things. I love the thrill of sky diving and try to do that as often as I can.I have decided to go in the Warrior Dash next year to help raise money for St Judes Hospital.  I also enjoy reading. My family and friends are my life and I enjoy spending lots of time with them. Thats me!