This has been a welcomed ending of this journey. I started at Walden in 2011 and after 7 years I am finally at the end. During this journey I stopped three times due to surgery and other health challenges, withdrew because I was going through a divorce and then was dismissed from the university due to low GPA at the beginning of this Capstone in 2015. I appealed three times, rejected the first two and finally in September I was readmitted. I say this to say one lesson learned is to never give up on a desire or dream; no matter how many roadblocks you may face, keep pushing. Another lesson from this program is the importance is building your community of practice. Within the profession of ECE, there are various roads to meets every passion and interest. Having a variety of members in your practice enables you to stay informed, maintain resources, and gain knowledge. A third lesson is the importance of gaining and retaining research-based knowledge to defend your actions and choices in how you work with adults, choices we make for families and children, and ideas and programs we develop and support. This last lesson is the reason for my long-term goal: to maintain yearly memberships with at least one national and one international early childhood organizations in efforts to sustain and gain knowledge in trends and best practice.
To my professor and colleagues, thank you for challenging my thoughts and ideas. I appreciate you feedback, questions, and support. Everything you gave to me helped in my professional growth. I found your ideas interesting and your projects captivating as we all served different needs under the same umbrella of early education. I wish you tremendous success in your journey. I hope you strive for excellence in your work as you did with each course. I hope your find yourself in areas if discomfort and challenge because the gold is working your way through them. May every wish and desire come true for you.
I hope to have you as members of my community of practice moving forward. **I am technology illiterate, so I have no idea how to record or upload a video on here**
Best of luck to you. Looking forward to 15-20 years out to see how our visions have manifested into reality.
Talibah Thomas
FB: Talibah Roxy Summers Thomas
Email: Talibah.thomas@gmail.com
Hello,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your story, it was inspiring and definitely motivation for me to keep moving. It appears that the road was long on this journey but through it you made it to the end and completed the program. It takes a dream to get started, desire to keep going and determination to finish!"- Eddie Harris Jr.