Sara Drake
SBU Education Alumnus
My education degree from SBU has helped me in a number of ways since I have graduated; however, for the purposes of time and space, I will only elaborate on two of these.
The first of which is SBU helped me as a missionary at an orphanage in Guatemala. After graduating in May of 2004, I decided to work for a year as a missionary in Guatemala. I taught English to some of the children for a little while before moving to the house with the babies. My degree helped me not only while I was teaching and having to prepare my own materials and lessons entirely from scratch; however, my degree also helped me tremendously while working with the babies. My second area of study at SBU was early childhood, so I was able to use many of the techniques and skills I learned while at SBU.
The second way in which my degree from SBU has really helped my career is that SBU is very well-known especially among the school districts in the state of Missouri. When people see that I have a degree from SBU, they automatically know that I was a part of a program that really is teaching students how to teach students. I remember, I had friends who were coming to me right before they started their first year of teaching asking me for help. I received so many tools and great advice to help me, not only be successful as a teacher, but successful in any path or profession. They really were training me for life as a strong, woman and disciple of Jesus Christ.
I would first tell any prospective student considering the Education program at SBU that they will not be able to find anything at the level or caliber as the program at SBU. It is the best of the best. I do not just say that as a graduate and alumni either. I say that as someone who has seen it from experience. Every hour and every late night (or all nighter for that matter) that I spent preparing lessons or projects or studying for a test was worth it. I knew when I walked across that stage at graduation, that I really was prepared for "life after college."
The second piece of advice I would give to those considering the Education program at SBU is that the professors are also unlike any one could find elsewhere. They genuinely cared about our success (and failures). They were there for us. They were just about us "making the grade." They truly believed in what they were teaching, and they wanted the best for us. They wanted us to be the kind of teachers that make a difference in this short life. More than even that, though, the professors in the Education department at SBU care about our lives as children, followers, men and women of Jesus Christ. They did not want us to just be successful as teachers. They wanted us to learn how to make a difference for eternity. They realized that teaching was just one (but very powerful) way of making that kind of difference and mark. I would challenge any person to find for me the kind of department, curriculum, professors, etc. that the SBU Department of Education offers.
Sara Drake