During my second semester in seventh grade, I woke up as usual and slowly made my way to the kitchen.

Just as I was about to open the pantry door, I noticed my mother and aunt sitting quietly in the dark. My aunt never rose before the sun and my mother always left the house before dawn. My mother motioned for me to sit on the ottoman in front of her blue chair and quietly told me my father died earlier that morning. My oldest brother returned from the Coast Guard and my mother picked up my other brother from boarding school. We drove to Alabama and stayed at a Holiday Inn. It snowed the night before the funeral. With few effective coping strategies to manage my feelings regarding my fathers death, I engaged in a variety of self destructive behaviors and soon found myself admitted to a local residential treatment center. After a year of intensive treatment, I returned home and started my first year in high school. Although I had difficulty adjusting to high school, I ultimately embraced success and decided to apply to Agnes Scott College. I had a respectable grade point average, but few extracurricular activities, and my SAT scores were well below the average of Agnes Scott applicants. Nevertheless, on the same day I received my first dozen roses, my mother called to tell me that I had been accepted. When I graduated college, I explored a variety of meaningless jobs and agonized about my future. I happened to drive by the same residential treatment center where I had spent so much time and was inexplicably drawn in. I learned that not only were they hiring, but I was welcome to complete an application and return the next day for an interview. Following the interview, I was hired as a mental health associate and started on a Sunday working the day shift. I worked on Unit 1 and was hit in the face with an oversized toy car by a 7-year-old male patient. I decided to go back the next day.

During my work at the institution, I discovered the Womens Studies field and began a journey of self discovery that took me to graduate school in Michigan. I was still drawn to mental health however, and arranged to complete my final project as an intern in a residential treatment center for adolescent boys. When I graduated, I was hopeful that I could return to mental health, but I was concerned that my new graduate degree would prevent me from securing a position in the field. I was pleasantly surprised when I was offered a full time teaching position back on Unit 1. I spent a week cleaning, organizing, and decorating my first classroom. Like many first year teachers, I approached teaching the way I had been taught. I assumed that my students would be able to learn in much the same way as I did. In time, I realized that my passion for the students and my commitment to teaching simply wasnt enough, and I enrolled in a certification program for students with emotional/behavioral and learning disabilities. I completed the first two classes the summer before I started teaching middle school with the Georgia Network for Emotional and Therapeutic Supports at Mainstay Academy. Although I became equipped with a variety of teaching and learning strategies, I longed for a better understanding of the unique needs of students with mental illnesses and severe emotional/behavioral disabilities. A year and a half after I completed the certification program, I began work on an Educational Specialist degree in Educational and Counseling Psychology with a specialization in Mental Health Practices in Public Schools at the University of Missouri. Almost immediately, I was able to apply concepts and practices in the classroom. As my understanding of mental illness increased so did my students opportunities for success. They were more likely to take risks both in and out of the classroom and I was more supportive in their journey. With the help of my students, I directed several plays and choreographed a musical.

Parents, friends, and school administrators sat in the audience and my students received a standing ovation. Despite difficulties in reading, a group of sixth grade boys agreed to participate in a unique reading program that I designed that allowed them to read books to younger students. Throughout much of their school career these boys found it painful to read out loud and were astonished to find themselves surrounded by a large group of elementary students hanging on their every word. Having wholeheartedly embraced my experience at the University of Missouri, I started looking at a variety of doctoral programs in Georgia before I even graduated. Unfortunately, I wasnt attracted to any one university or program as the majority of programs lacked variety and flexibility. When I explored the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University, I was quite surprised to find 14 different professional areas a doctoral student may choose to specialize, including Educational Psychology. The structure of the doctoral program allows students a secondary concentration apart from the specialization, which would allow me to maintain a dual focus in Special Education. In addition, the program respects and works with students who maintain full time employment without compromising the integrity of the program and offers financial and academic support to those students who chose to attend full time. I am convinced that George Mason University, with its flexibility and attention to detail, will allow me to strengthen my educational foundation and afford me the opportunity to continue to meet the needs of students with disabilities. More specifically, a doctoral degree from GMU will allow me to develop research and work closely with other practitioners to improve and develop programs for students with severe mental illness. In addition, GMU will equip me with the necessary skills to successfully research and work with those individuals close to No Child

Left Behind to ensure that the rights of students with disabilities are protected. Furthermore, I hope to be a driving force behind a push to return power to the IEP team, so that, for example, the team can determine when and if a student must participate in standardized testing. I know firsthand the stress and anxiety associated with norm referenced testing and I hope to work towards an accountability system that accurately reflects an individuals abilities and accomplishments.