2. Hello everyone, My name is Tashara English I am 34 years old and I reside in Ocala, Fl. My town is small and not well known, but we are the horse capital of the world, that is actually our claim to fame, "we breed champions". I am a preschool teacher I have been in the field of childcare for about 15 years. Though I have a clear passion for working with children, I see "preschool teacher" as a job and not a career. I decided to make a change, I started Ashford back in 2008 in hopes of obtaining a BA degree. As of September 9, 2013 I have a BA in Social Science w/a minor in child development.

3. I attended public schools K-12, but actually working in a private Christian based school for the better part of 13 years. I can reflect back on my public school experience and say that I missed out on a lot of positive encouraging stimuli, from teachers who were actually there for the children. Kindergarten was great, but everything went downhill from there. Of course there a few teachers that took pride in their task to educate, they were able to put aside the lack of pay and respect that they duly deserved, and rose to the occasion to produce well rounded and well educated students. But through my experience those type of teachers, were too far and in between. I had a very negative experience with an art teacher in high school. I had a love for art and was very interested in it, but was not the best at executing it. This teacher informed me that I was a waste of time and would most likely; end up with a career on flipping burgers at McDonald's for the rest of my life. She is one of the major reasons I put off college for so long, thinking that it was a waste of time for me to even try. Then I decided not to let the tarnished crown she placed on my head weigh me down and define who I am. I proved her and myself wrong by accomplishing something I never thought I could, earning a college degree.

5. The career that I see for myself The goal of a Master’s degree  I am looking forward to a career in social work, still utilizing my love for working with children just in a different setting. I am interested in helping children find themselves and really understand who and what they are. Honestly I'm just a big kid at heart and I have gone through many personal struggles as a kid so I feel I can really relate.  In my decision to go for my Master's I feel that with social work being such a broad field, an elevated education could only help further my steps into the desired career path that I have chosen.