A Day in the Life of a Master(s) of Education

I'll start by sharing what I posted on social media in light of the fourteen year anniversary of the Virginia Tech shooting:  14 years ago I posted to Facebook "fine right now, cell phones aren't working. Call room phone". Fourteen years ago, we still had landlines in college dorm rooms. Fourteen years ago I'd just bought my first car. Fourteen years ago we could walk into any building on campus freely. Recently I was visiting the campus of Georgia Tech and needed to use the restroom in a nearby building. As I walked up, i noticed that I needed a GT ID in order to access that door. I immediately thought in that moment "My university is the reason that this university has secured doors". Fourteen years of treating a wound that never really heals, seeing the scars on your everyday life, of reminders, of knowing that day is a fundamental part of who you are and how you navigate through the world. #NeverForget #LiveFor32 #Hokie4Life On the heels of this anni...

Today I did something I do frequently...I look at the FB memories for the day. Much like this blog, FB has been a part of my life's journey for some time and I enjoy looking back and seeing what was important enough for me to share 2, 4, or even 10 years ago. Also, it helps me remember birthdays 👌👌. When I looked at today's memories I knew that there would be several posts in relation to that day. For 12 years, today has been burned into my being. I literally have a physical reminder (a tattoo) of that day. I was not prepared for seeing the post that I made on that day.  It reads "fine as of right now, cell phones aren't working right call room 540 232 2097". I used FB to alert friends that I was fine. That resonates with me so much, because at that moment I was anything but fine. I was in the living room of my dorm with a few of my friends listening to sirens, watching TV. I had just run across the Drillfield with a few of my chemistry labmates after hearin...

8 years have passed and I will always remember April 16, 2007. I remember being exhausted from my drive up from a weekend spent in DC and super excited to have purchased my first car. I remember rushing out of my dorm at Cochrane for my 8am class across the street and passing an ambulance outside of West AJ. I remember sitting in my 200+ person lecture with few other students, having our professor comment on how empty the classroom was even though it was 8am Monday morning class and hearing a fellow student comment that West AJ was on lockdown. I remember walking  adjacent to the Drillfield to the Chem/Phys building for my chemistry lab and being passed by numerous campus, town and state police cars. I remember calling my father immediately and letting him know that something was happening on campus, that I didn't know what it was but that I was ok. I remember whispering with my lab partner and fellow classmates about what could be happening in Blacksburg also affec...