Mrs. Martin

Over the course of the last two years, my life, and as a result, my educational and career goals have evolved.  On September 29, 2011, I wrote a goal statement for admissions into Michigan State University’s Online Master of Arts in Education program.  In that statement I declared that I would concentrate my studies in the fields of special education and sports leadership and coaching. 

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The purpose of a concentration in special education was to allow me to pursue my goal as a learning specialist within a university athletic department.  It was my hope that courses that focused on special education would provide me with the resources and necessary skills to help the student-athletes that I would one day be working with.  I was also hoping to be able to put into practice some of the skills I learned while I worked as an Academic Mentor for Student-Athlete Support Services (SASS) at Michigan State.  

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However, after one semester in the program, I realized that special education was not a route I wanted to take.  I was not using the information that I was learning in my courses, and I was concerned that these classes would no longer benefit me as much as I thought they would.  I did some research into other concentration options and realized that literacy education was a much better fit for the needs’ of the students that I was working with. 

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I did, however, continue to also focus my studies on sports leadership and coaching.  Due to the fact that I wanted to pursue a career in collegiate athletics, I thought that it would be beneficial for me to expand my knowledge base as it pertained to the world of sports.  These classes were extremely interesting to me, and they helped me gain more information regarding the development of athletes.  

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My career goal has not changed, but I would say that it has evolved.  When I began this program in the spring of 2012, I did so with the intention of becoming a learning specialist and working with at-risk student-athletes.  However, working at SASS helped me shape a more concrete picture for what I hoped my future would look like.  I would still like to be a learning specialist and work with at-risk student-athletes.  However, I have now developed a long-term goal of becoming an academic coordinator.  This position would allow me to help student-athletes in a different capacity by tracking eligibility, monitoring degree completion and supporting them through the academic challenges that collegiate athletes face.

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