As I’ve shared with many of the students I’ve worked with, education has been important to me because, cliche as it may sound, it has been one of several keys to what I define as professional success in my life. I’ve always been academically inclined but I’ve also worked hard, been blessed and found a way to channel my strengths into things that interest me…like sharing my story.
I don’t do hair or nails. I’m not a social media influencer. I don’t have an obvious talent like singing or dancing. And that’s fine. I’m not looking for fame or notoriety in my life. But I say all that so say I used what I had, which was my brain.
Getting a good education opens up doors. This has been true for my life as I literally would not be where I am today if I weren’t working in education. Working in education has allowed me to travel for work to talk about education opportunities at the school I attended. I traveled to 14 countries! For me, that’s pretty exciting, coming from a town of 700 people where most of the men were fishermen and the women worked at different hotels.
Come to think of it, as a kid every year I would ask one of my godparents to buy me a globe for my birthday. Maybe a part of me even then wanted to see other parts of the world. As a kid I couldn’t quite grasp the idea that life was bigger than my hometown and my island.
Sometimes I don’t think my story is worthy of being told. Sometimes I think my experiences can be an encouragement to someone else. As a teenager I wanted to go to college but I sure as heck didn’t have the money and had no idea how I would pay for it. Scholarships paid the way. The hard work of high school paid off. And then the hard work and seeking out opportunities in college paid off.
Of course plenty prayers and moving on faith took place, but there was also work on my end.
Ten months ago I had no idea where in the world I would be working. I was hoping it’d be Colorado still but didn’t know for sure. Five years from now I have no idea where I’ll be or what I’ll be doing, but I’m sure there’ll be more learning on way to wherever the destination is.
In the meanwhile, maybe I’ll share some more about tips on finding scholarships and more education related stuff.
Life of Neu 