I can’t remember the last time I have ever received straight A’s on my report card. In fact, do you still call them report cards in college?
As most of you know, this past January I returned to college for my second attempt at it. Not because I didn’t finish the first time, but because I wanted to become a high school math teacher. Well I got my final grades from my first semester and they were all A’s!!! Apparently that means I’m now on the deans list?
My whole goal for posting this is not to make myself look good, but just to share with you that school this time around has a completely different purpose. Not only am I in a different “stage” of my life, as I’m now married, but this time’s I’m much more focused.
Since my freshman year in college (the first time) I’ve had a heart for high school students, and really all kids for that matter. I desire each and every kid that I meet to succeed in life. I want them to seek and find their passions and pursue them with all of their heart. I want them to find jobs and wives that they’ll love each and every day coming home. And ultimately I want them to find out who Jesus is and who He calls them to be and how they can live that out on a daily basis.
So this time around in school, it’s not so much about my grades or the classes I’m taking, but how this education will help me to impact lives of high school students once I’m finished.
There’s a young gentleman in our church who’s name I will not share with you, but we can call him “J”. “J” comes from a family where his parents are divorced and he lives with his grandmother and father and he doesn’t seem to have that much money, but he loves coming to church every weekend and always has a joyous demeanor about him. Susan came up to me about mid-semester and told me that I’m going back to school, so that one day, “J” will be in my classroom and I can have an impact on his life.
This is why I’m going back to school.
This past week I started my new job at a place called Mathnasium. On my first day, a car pulled up to the building and a young gentleman stepped out of the back seat, and slammed the door shut. He came into the building and went to the back of the room and found a seat and put on his headphones. I let him sit there for a couple minutes, then walked over to him and when I got close to him, he said, “Don’t look at my paper!” To which I replied, “Hi, my name’s Matt,” and reached out my hand and gave him a handshake. At first this kinda caught him off guard, but then I began to ask him which school he attended and what sports he played and then I said, “If you need help, let me know.” As I turned to walk away, he said, “Can you give me some help?” We then spent the next hour going over some of his homework and getting to know each other a little better.
I know that God has given me some amazing gifts to reach young people and meet them where they are and I can’t wait to be able to become a teacher on a full time basis.
Now I just have to keep getting those A’s!
