Introduction

         Once upon a time, far, far away, all good stories start this way. Or at least that is what my mother told me.  My story actually starts a little over one year ago in America, a land that is now far, far away from me.  I have always had a deep appreciation for those in the educational arena, as both of my parents were educators.   My parents, though, pleaded with me to go into a much more prestigious and high paying field like law or medicine—anything but education!  I’ve always heard that telling a child not to do something will only make him want to do it even more.  So, naturally, I enrolled in Georgia Southern’s higher education administration program.

When asked to prepare a portfolio that would be the culmination of my graduate studies, I had to step back and ask myself “where exactly has this lead me?”  It was then that I realized that my education was much like an adventure in a book, with each course I took, the more complex my character was developed and the deeper my journey progressed.  In the story of my education, I started out the timid and reluctant girl, venturing out just enough to see what really was out there.  I began by taking some of the required courses.  I then sampled some classes on higher education policies and the politics behind them. I dabbled in instructional design and educational researching, learning how to design curriculums and construct research studies.  Next, I studied the history behind the higher education system and discovered how much our university system has changed.  I took my turn with multicultural education and learned about ethics and acceptance within the classroom.  My journey carried me across the ocean and to new lands, expanding my knowledge base and opening my eyes to new cultures.  But, it wasn’t until this semester that I realized just how far my journey had taken me.

With my move across the world to the Kingdom of Bahrain, I have begun to carve out a defined idea of where I want all the knowledge that I have gained from this program to take me.  I have studied other cultures, but nothing has ever helped me to truly appreciate and understand a culture like living in it.  I want to use my knowledge of other cultures, such as the mysteriously veiled Muslim culture, and teach people about acceptance not just in the classroom, but in our everyday lives.  My studies in educational policy have shown me that I can make a difference in a person’s life.  I want to be a “multicultural educator” that is able to affect change in the lives of students around the world.  I look around me in Bahrain and see how women struggle just to keep up, in education as well as in the business world, and I don’t want future generations to have to suffer in that way.  I feel that it is now my duty to use my education to create reform that will open doors to education for people of all ages, all around the world. If someone were to ask me what the one thing was that I have taken away from this program, it would be that education truly does have the power to change lives. With that, I can confidently say that this program has made me proud to be an educator.