Senior Emily Walker is actively involved in the educational community. She devotes much of her time to working with children of all ages. With a specialization in reading, Walker's major, Child Study and Language Development, has allowed her to follow her heart into a career that she enjoys. Through classroom observation, field-based teaching, and student teaching, Walker has had an inspiring glimpse into her future as an educator. Although she admits that the transition from being a student to a teacher is difficult, Walker recognizes the payoffs of the adjustment.
Teaching is definitely a rewarding profession.
The reason that I enjoy teaching is because I can't imagine being in a career where I didn't feel like what I did mattered very much. I wouldn't want to do something that was just to benefit myself or to make money. A year ago, Walker was invited to conduct a departmental honors project for Southwestern. For the purposes of this project, she conducted case studies involving two first-grade students to determine whether or not involvement in the Reading Recovery program led to the child's improved performance in the regular classroom. She traveled to their annual conference in Austin to accept the award and address the association, composed of principals and superintendents from across the state.