Education in my household was only discussed by my mom. Dad never seemed to care a whole lot. His motto was,"Well, she's got my good looks and her mom's brains so that's all she needs." He was just being funny, he's always been like that. Mom, on the other hand, was the person who made sure I had my homework done and wanted to know how I was doing in class. She never did come out and give me lectures about getting a good education I just understood that it had to be done.

Mom is a very smart woman. She graduated from high school and got an associates degree in nursing at Bluefield State College. She has been a nurse for years. Dad only graduated from high school and according to Mom he did that by the skin of his teeth. Mom and Dad have done well for themselves. They both work together at a home health agency now. Dad works with the medical equipment and Mom is the home health aide director and one of the nursing directors. She has gotten far in her career but it has taken quite some time and a lot of hard work.

I have always respected my parents. If I got a bad grade in a class I was always so ashamed to show it to them. As I had written in my personal history, my first year at Marshall was terrible. I had failed quite a few classes. I didn't even want to get my report card in the mail. When my second semester grades came to the house, the only thing that she asked was if it was OK if she seen them and I said no. She never asked anymore questions, to this day she has never seen those terrible grades. I made a decision right then and there. I was never going to put her through that again. I had never done that bad in all of my life! I wanted to make her proud of me and I wanted to do it for myself. The next year, I began CD 101 and 241 in the fall. I had decided that I was going to get somewhere in my life and then was the time to do it. I took the classes over that I had failed and I ended up getting an A in them. Isn't that crazy. After that I decided to just do it right the first time.

Mom and Dad are very proud of me now, not to say that they weren't before they just were a little heartbroken after my freshman year. I'm just glad that they didn't make me go to the community college at home after that one! I'm so happy to have parents like them because they definitely supported me in all of the education decisions that I have made. They do a wonderful job being role models of hard work.

I began to get interested in speech-language pathology when I was a kid. I remember a friend of mine, April, had to go see an SLP when we were in second grade. She lateralized all of her /s/ sounds. The SLP would come into the room and ask for April. I remember the little room that she conducted therapy in. It was the room right beside our classroom. Everytime I went out into the hall or when we lined up for lunch and recess, I remember looking into that room and wondering what went on in there. I wanted to know! All I knew was that she helped April correct her /s/. Over time, I just got used to walking by that little room and I would occasionally look inside if someone was in there. I remember that whatever went on in that room always seemed to be like a big secret. Don't ask me why. I think it's just because no one talked about it. As I got older, I moved to a different building and I didn't know anyone that went to therapy anymore.

My first year at Marshall was a disaster. I was homesick and I seemed to consantly be sick. I remember getting the flu so bad that I almost couldn't even walk. My mom had to come and pick me up that week and take me home. Aside from bad luck, I started off majoring in Physical Therapy Assitance. I'll have to say that it was too intense. It just always seemed like I was competing with everyone. I know that my classes now are intense but I wasn't prepared for it my freshman year. People in those classes meant business. I remember that there was this one girl who was so smart, she had a 4.0 and she didn't get into the program because she evidently didn't do well on the essay and interview. I thought,"Man, if she can't get in, I'm definitely not getting in." Anyway, as I was getting closer to the end of my freshman year, my grades were terrible and I decided I needed a change.

I remember when Jada Hersman changed her major. I don't know if anyone knows her. I lived a couple rooms down from her in the dorms. I asked her what she changed it to and she told me Speech-Language Pathology. I instantly thought of second grade and April going into the mystery room. By then, I had gained a little more knowledge as to what an SLP was and I decided instantly that this was my ticket. Soon after that I went to see Mrs. McComas! I remember her telling me that I was going to have to take some classes over to get a better GPA. I figured that was going to be tough but I knew that I could do better work than what I had been doing. I decided to buckle down and get busy. Well, here I am.

After being in the CD classes and gaining more knowledge as to what all goes into speech therapy, I love it. There is so much information but it is interesting. I love people in general but kids are my favorite. I can't get over how they say the cutest things. I'm excited to work with kids so I can just talk and play with them. I want to do one of two things, either work with kids or work with people who have neurogenic disorders. That class this past Spring also sparked my interest.

Kara