Hi class!
My name is Katherine Dupuis, and I grew up in Barnstead, which is a small town
in South Eastern New Hampshire where the only school served grades k-8! I only
attended until the middle of second grade, and then my family moved about an
hour down the tree-covered highway to Barrington where I continued school until
8th grade. From there, Barrington School and the surrounding 4 towns
fed into our regional high school, and of my graduating class, I wonder if
anyone owned a cell phone- I know I didn’t! After bouncing around for a few
years after high school, living with roommates in Rhode Island and
Massachusetts, I decided to follow the sunshine to beautiful Oceanside,
California. Here I decided that I had more to offer the world, so I enrolled in
classes at Mira Costa College. After finishing up my AA in Liberal Studies and
earning a Child Development Associate Teacher Certificate at MCC, I recently
transferred to CSUSM! I’m a long way from home, and am waiting to see where the
rest of the road will take me! “Where on the technology continuum?” you ask… Well, if you rate it on a scale of A thru Z, I would say I’m at the spot where a young child is learning the alphabet and trips over the “el-uh-men-oh-pee” part. I’m competent enough to figure out the important stuff, but I don’t quite have it mastered or working well for me yet. Some recent developments in my technological life are that I have finally upgraded from Microsoft Works to Word (no more .rtf!), and my dumb phone got a major makeover- but I will still never pay for cable. It’s amazing to see how much apps have changed lives. Much like a child’s rapid acquisition of language, I plan to embrace change and grow exponentially during this semester as I learn to utilize the newest member of my family- my MacBook which I have named “Superfluous”. I feel a thousand pounds lighter because I finally have the tools I need for success, and I look forward to learning new ways to work smarter and not harder.
The mission statement
wasn’t necessarily a factor in applying to CSUSM, but I can appreciate a lot of
what is said in it. While taking classes towards both liberal studies and child
development degrees, I understand the importance of knowing both what you teach
and how you teach it. I am an advocate for child or student-centered education,
and as a life-long learner I am continually challenging myself to both chase
after my own interests and find out more to foster the teachable moments of my
future students. The support of the School of Education in students’ success is
admirable, and we are on our way to creating positive change!
Great call in the Mac! :D How are you liking the west coast so far?
ReplyDeleteThe west coast has been treating me well. I've been able to explore much of it in the past few years, and there's still so much to see! I haven't made it past Seattle, or even ventured into Mexico, but I'm enamored by everything in between. It's a much different lifestyle here, and I am happy to be part of the California culture.
ReplyDeleteWhat a change from New Hampshire! Small world, my mother grew up in Barrington, NH so I am very familiar with where you're from. I've been back there twice to visit her childhood home and the area. It is definitely a lot different there but very beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI also studied child development before liberal studies and worked as a preschool teacher for a long time.
Welcome to California! I'm a native Californian but I grew up outside of San Francisco so there are still a million things I want to see in Southern California too. It's a great place to explore.
Hello fellow Katherine!! :) I really enjoyed reading more about who you are and where you've come from! I didn't know that you were from New Hampshire, but now that i do I can totally see the East Coast in you! I have a lot of family in New Hampshire and I've always kind of picked up on the little idiosyncrasies from them. Do you say "wicked" by any chance? :) I'm really glad to have met you and I can't wait to see where the next couple years will take us! (*side note: where was you picture taken up top? I love to hike and it looks like a cool place!)
ReplyDeleteWow, small world is right! I do love NH, and I did say "wicked" for a while until I got Californiaized. I still drop it in every now and then without realizing it I suppose.
ReplyDeleteThe picture in my post is from the narrows river trail at Zion National Park, and the pic for my profile is on the Half Dome hike at Yosemite. I love being outdoors- does everyone how about the excursions set up by CSUSM Campus Recreation? Check it out at the Clarke!
You grew up in New Hampshire?? That's where my family is from, so I definitely understand the small towns and schools. I bet the move was really eye-opening. I also went to Mira Costa and just transferred. Hopefully we'll have a good first semester :)
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