Master's Defense

Today I traveled to Boone, NC where I defended my Master's Portfolio.  The defense consisted of a 40 minute presentation that demonstrated my competence in the Spanish language, my abilities to be a successful second language educator, and my growth in the said areas throughout the program.   The hardest part of the defense was the comittiee of professors (who are experts in these areas) just sitting and staring at you with no sort of feedback to let you know how you are doing during the presentation. Whew! 

Well, I passed.  :)

 I am so thankful that my Masters is complete.  The Lord truly blessed my endeavors and gave me so much support through my family, friends, and church community.  I was sad to leave after my defense, so I am SO glad I'm teaching at App State this fall so I didn't really have to say "goodbye" to people!  I probably will "walk" in December, but I am OFFICIALLY done and graduated.

 A few of my committee-members/professors are pictured below.  The lady in the white shirt, to my left, was my program director while I lived in Spain in 2008.  I LOVED getting to be her student again and now work with her!  Small world.  The only problem is I have the habit of calling her Catherine, not Dr. Fountain :)

Below is my dear friend, Linda.  She served as the practicing K-12 Spanish teacher on my committee.  She is also in the Masters program and we have driven many hours together commuting to and from classes.  Linda was a missionary in Mexico about 15 years ago with Latin America Mission (LAM) and is also a single mom.  She has been SUCH a blessing and a gift from God as a listening ear that can truly relate to many elements in my life.