Monday, May 9, 2011

Learning Experiences Kicking and Screaming Along the Way


By Jeannette Steeves
Fifteen years ago, I made the decision to close my professional design practice in Florida.  I wanted to return to school to complete my Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts at the University of Georgia.  The next ten years did not go as I had planned. The first problem was the apartment house I had recently inherited and was counting on to support me while I was in school.  It burned to the ground three months after I had relocated.  Shortly after wards I learned that all the belongings I truly valued, which I had left in storage in Florida, were being held by an unscrupulous moving company that demanded $10,000 to return them.  I was able to work through those rather significant problems.  However, the whole educational adventure had gotten completely out of control. What I thought would be a one-year experience ended up lasting eight years. Finally, after completing my Ph. D. in housing, interior design and resource management with a minor in gerontology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, I returned to my home in Altamonte Springs.  I immediately began a job search.  My goal was a job at Seminole Community College, as it was known then, which offered a two-year degree in interior design.  They were also developing a program featuring studies in design for the aging population.  It was exactly the kind of program I had hoped and prayed for. I was very optimistic about the possibility of securing a position there.  For five years I pursued every opportunity to teach at Seminole State College  (SSC), as it is now known. For five years I experienced one disappointment after another.  I did, however, get a job four years ago at a small private art school which proved to be an excellent learning experience.  Coupled with my prior experience in the design field and work I had done in several levels of both residential and commercial interior design, I thought I would have no problem handling a teaching position.  No so.   I encountered obstacles at SSC.  Gradually I realized that I had a lot to learn about teaching.  In time, however, after working very hard, I learned and grew professionally in many ways.  Two months ago I was rewarded with a job teaching two classes at SSC, which is now a full four-year college that offers a Bachelors Degree in Interior Design.  Although it’s a balancing act to hold two adjunct positions on two different campuses, I am enjoying the work.  Now I am praying for a full-time position as the SSC program grows. Looking back at the last five years, it couldn’t be clearer to me that God’s fingerprints are all over my experience.  I wasn’t prepared for the position I was applying for five years ago.  I needed the experience that I had at the private art school to prepare me for the more complex university system and for working with students.  God’s patience with me is amazing.  I continue to pray for the wisdom that will eliminate the kicking and screaming that almost always accompanies my growth.  When am I going to remember that there’s more at play than my expectations when “things” don’t go according to my plans?


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