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| Paige Hunter highlights my story |
Highlights Paige has always enjoyed teaching and working with young children. When many of her college roommates struggled to figure out what to do after graduation, Paige knew exactly what she wanted. So she packed her bags and headed to the East Cost where she works as an elementary school teacher. Paige is also an accomplished pianist and competitive athlete. She routinely dominates all family battles of intellect. Some of Paige’s noted accomplishments include:
Because according to my sister, Brooke, using a permanent marker to “paint” a frame (or several) does not an artist make, I am not the artist of the family. Nor am I the athlete of the family, although I excelled at volleyball in high school. As a child, I prided myself in being able to play computer games with my toes, but I am not the computer nerd of the family either. As nondescript child number six, exposed to a myriad of talents within my own family, I somehow blossomed on my own as an elementary school teacher. I thought one chose the teaching profession as an interim job awaiting motherhood. So although I loved tutoring as a young adult, I felt compelled to seek a career in counseling that required a higher degree and that guided children without the reindeer sweaters and blinking Valentine’s Day earrings. While in pursuit of this other career, I volunteered on the side as a tutor and coach of elementary school children and provided at-home care for children with disabilities. Luckily, I realized sooner than later that if I loved teaching enough to do so for free, I might really love it if someone also gave me money. And I do! After creating a free tutoring program for a local elementary school and receiving my teaching credential at the University of California, Davis, I bought a one-way ticket to Boston for no good reason and spent a year teaching kindergarten in a classroom with students of mixed ability levels. I then followed my high school sweetheart to Washington, D.C., and am currently in my second year of teaching the fifth grade at a fabulous school in Arlington, Virginia. The rigors of the job constantly surprise and challenge me beyond all my expectations, as do the rewards. If teaching is the traditional job for a woman, then may God bless all the women before me who propelled the art of education into the innovative practice that I am proud to be a part of today. |
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