8 Years Later

I'm back! Did anyone know I left? Even I forgot I was gone. It's been a wild 8 years since my last post. To celebrate all the changes in my life since I last posted, I'm going to list new perspectives I've gained over the last 8 years, in no particular order. 

Myself as a 2014 blogger probably would have called these "learnings". But I've .... learned .... that life is way too nuanced and ever-changing to "learn" things. All you can do is grow. 

• Capitalism is a major driver of our culture in the US, and it's not like that everywhere in the world
• Capitalism is good because it incentivizes hard work and progress
• Capitalism is bad because it leaves people behind
• Capitalism is incomplete because people are not fully rational and our prejudices significantly drive how our economy works
• Money is the driver behind at least half, if not most, things people do
• I would have been a good CPA (sorry I realized that one too late, Dad!) 
• It's really important but not always possible to leave well; to create bridges vs. burn them when it's time for a change in a job, relationship, or community
• If you let problems fester, they will blow up. Honesty, no matter how scary, is better
• I have a culture! And I happen to have grown up in a very privileged, majority culture
• It's very prevalent among women to be conditioned not to believe in themselves
• Almost no one sees it coming when they're being played by a sociopath; most people cannot believe what is happening
• Sometimes you're just in the wrong place, and there's no reason or benefit from changing yourself to fit your environment. Sometimes you just need to make a change and leave something behind
• Gaslighting, y'all. Trust your gut, ladies
• I'm healthier in every way when I take things at a measured pace, vs. when I am constantly striving 
• Other people give me a sense of purpose
• You CAN start over, especially when you have no choice
• And last one ... sometimes it's a cliche because it's true ... Sometimes starting over is the best thing that could ever happen to you

Peace

BEST summer EVER!!

Literally. I've told people I feel like I'm in high school, because I haven't had this much free time (and extra energy) in the summer since I was in high school. It was really hard for a couple of weeks not being at Camp All-American (because we were living with our parents and I drove by it every day) -- but since moving down to Dunwoody and seeing our bff's all the time, I am realizing that there IS life after Camp All-American -- and it's super FUN!!

Kayaking, hiking, running, yoga, being with friends, team USA winning!!,  interesting jobs, and a varied schedule are making for the perfect summer.

My instagram and Facebook pics tell the story of our summer pretty well, but I'll just fill in a few gaps here (for those who are interested :) )

I LOVE my internship with Calvin Edwards & Company. I'm learning how to write, and I'm exposed to the most fascinating ideas in the most optimistic industry--philanthropy. Consider this, which Calvin Edwards expostulated on in a recent lunch and learn:

Premise 1- The United States is by far the most generous nation, per capita.
Premise 2- A fundamental pre-condition of generously giving to a cause is optimism -- you believe that the world can change.
Premise 3- The United States is characteristically optimistic.
Conclusion- There is probably a connection between the US's optimistic culture, and its level of giving.

And WOW I am thinking SO optimistically. Even if nothing else comes from this internship, I am so grateful for how it is shaping a vision of our future. Marshall and I could change the world! You could change the world! SO many people are dedicated to causes that change. the. world.!!

I also love working for the Acts 29 Network! I'm learning a lot about the network, I got to MEET A CELEBRITY!!! I met Matt Chandler, in case anyone didn't hear. !! AND I get to go work at / enjoy the Pastors' Retreat down in Miami next week -- And Marshall gets to join me!! I'm working with some great people and friends of both me and Marshall, so it's going to be a great week!!

And my classes are going well -- I'm done with Accounting and almost done with Finance, and they've both been really interesting and the perfect amount of challenging! The world is SUCH an interesting place, and there's so many interesting things happening -- life is good :)

Someone get me a participation trophy - SCHOOLS OUT!!!!

This is a tribute to the participation trophy and every kid and person who receives one. I'm giving myself one today, figuratively. I participated in being a teacher at JCCHS this year, and I need to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who made it possible!!

So here's my I-Made-It Acceptance Speech:

I LITERALLY could not have made it through this year of teaching without the people around me. Marshall is supposed to have been the one who had a hard year-- his first year of Law School! But he has been overwhelmingly loving and supportive. "How can I help you?" and "I'm sorry your day is so hard" are the things he said SO often that helped me get through. He's amazing--really. I'm amazed I get to be his wife!

Jessica and Michael, my two bffls from school, have been a Godsend!! We've literally walked through this year together -- our walks around Five Points helped me feel connected to JCCHS and not alone in my role there AND gave me a place to vent and process things. And exercise!! I LOVE Y'ALL!!!! And I'm so glad I don't have to miss y'all because we'll still see each other next year and this summer!! We have to. :)

Conversations with my friend Ashley almost daily in the car at 7:00am took my mind off of the day ahead and kept me joyful. Ashley, you've OFFICIALLY seen me at my embarrassing worst. And Lauren and Avery and Ciara and Jenn, I can't WAIT to spend the summer hanging out with y'all!!

My parents, in-laws, and family, and my d-group (Kaitie, Karen, Mollie, Katie, Helen, and Erika) were SO supportive and sympathetic when I cried involuntarily. My mom cried with me when I had a hard day earlier this week--so sweet!! And our community group was SO supportive and caring -- "How many days left, Rachel?"

Sara Samchok, you reminded me: "Rachel Sims is not a quitter." Nope. And now I'm DONE!!!!!

And lastly, thank you to our pastor Matt Adair and to UGA and to Stephen Kump / Calvin Edwards and Company-- who are the means God has provided for me to change gears and work towards a new career path!! I feel so blessed and excited to learn from the opportunities ahead. Starting on TUESDAY!!!

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I have never done anything as difficult as this year. [Disclaimer: If your life has actually been hard, you may want to stop reading here, because my life is not actually  that difficult.]

Summers as a counselor at Camp All-American were really hard, but that was just because I was tired. Running track and cross country in high school was really hard, but practice lasted, what, 2 hours? and I was running with my best friends. And I love running. Being apart from family and friends when I went to Spain was hard, but I was on a european adventure of a lifetime, and I made some great friends. My senior year of college was hard because I was tired and overworked. . .

And I feel like perseverance is sort of something I've focused on developing through a lot of things in my life--my dad ran marathons when I was little, and my mom has stayed joyful despite tons of hard things in her life--so I feel like I have a strong foundation of perseverance from them. But this year took persevering to a new level for me.

Reasons I quit teaching:

1. It made me someone I don't want to be. It made me angry. It made me unmotivated. It made me dislike nice people. It made me unable to see that people are nice people. I had to tell funny, interesting young people to be quiet all. the. time. I had to execute something I felt was mediocre day after day, without the time, training, or resources to turn mediocrity into excellence.

2. I didn't see any hope of becoming someone I want to be. Once I decided not to teach, the responses I got from coworkers were things like "Good for you-- most of us have been in it too long to change now." or "RUN. As fast as you can."

3. It isn't actually that relational. My smallest class was 33 (biggest 36). I love kids and wanted to help them grow and learn . . . but turns out most of them didn't really want to do that, and there were too many of them for me to be able to focus on the ones that did!

Lastly, can I just say there are some AMAZING teachers at JCCHS. There's one lady in particular (Mrs. Laura Caldwell :) ) who is the sweetest, salt-of-the-earth person ever. She thinks the best of others, and she listens to them. She is a precious gift to the kids at Jackson County--and they know it!!

In SUMMER!!

Just wanted to update family and friends on new things happening with us! We are SO excited for our summer: We are looking forward to being back with old friends and with family in Atlanta this summer, but we will miss our Athens friends!! 

Marshall's summer internship with Commander Pound Butler started today! http://commanderpoundbutler.com  He's excited to learn a lot  from some really cool people there, and I am thrilled for him!! It's increasingly difficult to find internships after your 1L year, so I'm very proud :) He's also excited about his classes and activities for the fall. He's been accepted for a Medical-Legal partnership, where he will get to do actual case work in healthcare law. He'll also be on the Moot Court team! 

I started working in April with the Acts 29 Network as an Events Associate, part time  http://www.acts29network.org . It's been a HUGE blessing!! And it's not only a summer job--I'll stay on with them as long as they'll have me! :) I get to be part of a cool, expanding international organization, AND I'm getting to work with and for some great people we've become friends with this year.  I might even get to meet some "celebrities" (like Matt Chandler or Lecrae or Tedashii) at some of the events haha!! I am really looking forward to getting to focus more on my work with them once school's out on Friday!  

Starting next Tuesday, I'll also be spending about 15 hours a week learning from/interning with Calvin Edwards and Company ( http://www.calvinedwardscompany.com ). They work primarily with potential donors to help them choose high-performing non-profit organizations, by creating comprehensive reports on those non-profits! I am really grateful to be getting all of this experience before beginning my MBA in the fall!! 

I'm also beginning my pre-course work for the MBA program. . . taking online crash course versions of Accounting, Finance, Econ., and Statistics in preparation for the fall. And it's been SEVEN YEARS since I took any sort of quantitative course at all. Bring it on. 

We'll also live with each of our parents for about a week this summer, and we'll live the rest of the time with one of my best friends and her husband, who just bought a house!! We are SO excited and grateful to all of them for opening up their homes to us this summer! :) :) 

Life in Athens (as long as I'm not teaching) is amazing--this is a GREAT place to live, and I know we will be excited to be back at the end of the summer! HAGS!!

MBA at UGA -- Fall 2014!!

I am VERY EXCITED and the future is looking SO bright!!! I just heard about my acceptance to the Terry College of Business at UGA's Full-Time MBA Program, and I could NOT be more excited!!

Very excited about changing careers--I've chosen the Operations Management concentration because I'd like to either go into consulting or work for a number of amazing companies in Atlanta in an operations-related position. An MBA will help me develop my strengths of organization, preparedness, and efficiency into a marketable skill set!

I am sure that I would have liked teaching better at a different school / in a different department at my school, but I started thinking last fall that I couldn't see myself teaching for the rest of my career--for various reasons. And Marshall had been suggesting since we decided to move to Athens that I get a masters while we're here... So we did some research, found some jobs we think I'd enjoy and be good at, and I became convinced that an MBA would open the door for me to do those things. We talked to our parents about it, and they were supportive, excited, and had some great wisdom to offer! I applied in December, and I just heard back!!

Of course there are a lot of risky things about this. . . both of us being in school, when to start a family, etc . . . BUT we've prayed through the fears and risks, sought wisdom from people older than us, and we are really convinced that this is God's leading for me/us.

There's also that, if I was just going to end up back in school, then why did God lead me to teach this year? In talking about that, my parents pointed out that I've wanted to be a Spanish teacher since I was 18. If I had never tried it out, I would have always wondered. Now I KNOW :)

Going forward, I am really excited about applying for summer internships, brushing up on my quantitative skills (Kahn Academy is AMAZING!!), and doing pre-course work. It is definitely going to be a challenge, but I am so excited about where it will lead!

One semester down!

And after whirlwind day of wrapping up the semester and preparing for Christmas, we'll embark in the morning for a week out of town to be with family! Very exciting. 

I am SO glad to get a two-week break. I'll be teaching a few of the same kids in my Spanish 2 class next semester, but there are others that I think I may miss. Maybe? 

I gave them surveys about my class, and the feedback was really helpful. More note-taking (Yes please!), less book work, they liked the centers we did, they LOVE when they get to write/draw on my mini individual whiteboards to practice vocab. I also asked them about my teaching style, and it looks like I struck a good balance: 

"Sra. Sims is really nice and laid-back. Not overbearing." 

"Sra. Sims is too strict sometimes." 

"She's not monotone and is always smiling and enthusiastic." 

"She's really monotone and needs to be more enthusiastic." 

I had 25% A's and a 12% failure rate, which makes a pretty nice bell curve. One student made a 100 in the class -- and he earned every single one of those 100 points. He learned 100% of what I taught this semester, and I'm glad I'll get to teach him again next semester! 

I also had a jock kid start crying today when I handed him back his well-written EOCT, on which he scored an 82, and told him that meant he'd pass the class. Which means he gets to play baseball this spring, of course! 

I started creating a collection of poetic works around October titled "Haikus of a first year teacher", and I thought I'd share a few here:

Preplanning:

Spitball plastered tiles

Almost crushed by bad bookshelf

Hearing, smelling bats

Students:

Te llama el gum

My clothing’s like a cowgirl

Things students tell me 

Midterm:

52 Average

Texting’s not work; took his phone

He never came back 

Surveys: 

This was a great class 

Even though I'm gonna fail

Thank you. Love you! --Hope

An update from CRISP and BEAUTIFUL Athens!

My heart is full. Life is beautiful in Athens. Fall is beautiful, crisp air is beautiful, UGA's campus is beautiful, Fairy Princess . . . is a hermit. Marriage/ the companionship it brings are beautiful, candy corn for $0.75 is beautiful.

I think I am finally adjusting to teaching; it's been a journey, but I like kids and I definitely like the blistering, challenging pace of planning and creating and grading and learning. Even though it gets exhausting. I'm learning a lot from my kids about people who've grown up differently from me. Things are becoming more predictable, and I am increasingly in control of my classroom environment. . . which makes every day easier. Also, my student with a constant scowl who I had a major issue with last Monday never came back to my class and is now transferring to another school!! YAY.

I've gone to a few meetings lately about how my school district has no money at all. So it's sort of questionable whether I'll have a job next year--especially a full-time job--BUT I see it as a potential opportunity to try new things since I definitely don't love teaching yet.

I'm taking a personal day Friday to refuel halfway between Fall Break and Thanksgiving, we have the perfect agenda of exciting weekend plans for the next few weeks and the holidays, we're making good friends, staying in touch with good friends, and I have plenty of time to read, learn, recuperate from work, and enjoy the beautiful city we live in. Life is good.

*Disclaimer - my apologies for only blogging when life is good. The last months have been a struggle. . . I'm thankful for where I am right now!

*Another disclaimer: Marshall didn't get a fall break and can't take days off like I can . . . he's exhausted and excited that there are only 3 weeks of classes left this semester. He handles it all amazingly well and is doing amazingly well according to the midterm grades he's gotten back! VERY proud of him and so excited I get to be his partner through now and into the future. . . the future is so bright and wide open -- who knows where we'll end up! It's fun to dream!