When I wake up, brittle and tired at 5:40 AM every morning, I usually require a moment to sit up in bed to reflect on what could possibly compel me to drive myself so passionately.  At this point, I need to question what could oblige me to slash the cords of comfort so routinely.  I need to remember how I can perpetually convince myself that four hours of sleep is enough.  All it takes is five seconds though; near-diluvian floods of simultaneous joy and excitement rip these questions to shreds.  What a beautiful realization to make every morning: I chose to mold minds, change lives, and motivate the masses.  I chose to teach.

When I graduated from Rutgers University in 2009, I could not imagine where my teaching journey would lead me, but I knew that I wanted to teach, and I was desperate to make an impact right away.  Qunnipiac offered me this opportunity; through the MAT program, I would be able to educate others during the day through an internship at a local high school, all the while obtaining the graduate coursework needed to establish the foundation and approach by which my teaching career would be solidly grounded. 

Pulling my tie snug and tying my shoes tightly, my day comes into focus.  I face between six to seven hours of high school students, followed by at least three hours of my own classes at night.  It’s difficult for me to explain this to others who are unfamiliar with my obsession with teaching.  Some are bewildered by my constant allusions to the profession.  At 7:33, when the school day begins, I laugh at those folks—but I should not.  I’m too busy preparing to thunderously demand educational excellence.

Of course, the excellence doesn’t begin at 7:33 AM and end at 2:00 PM like the typical school day.  It’s a lifestyle.  And that’s the attitude I take to my classes at Quinnipiac.  While I successfully battle indifference and academic struggles all day at the high school, the war is never over.  In class, I am given the opportunity to challenge my own assumptions, bringing about a critical awareness of myself and the teaching landscape.  The MAT program gives its students an avenue by which their personalities can be used to recreate themselves in teacher-form; it demands that thoughtful reflection is a fact of a teacher’s existence—a tool of survival. 

It should be no surprise, then, that like many of the MAT program’s students, I am indeed surviving—thriving, even.  The challenges that come in school are collectively analyzed so that we have the strength and knowledge to individually attack them with vigor.  This vigilance, of course, is something that I brought with me to Quinnpiac.  But here, I have been given a place to let it grow and morph.  Here, I have truly become a champion of the cause that defines every teacher’s journey: I want to make a difference that will be felt across the planet. 

What could be more beautiful than a life so fulfilled?

-Josh Hagewood

Josh graduated from Rutgers University in 2009 with undergraduate degrees in History and Geography. Subscribe to our feed for more posts from Josh.