Student Experience: Nicole Ellis

The Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education (BAS ECE) program at Dallas College has been absolutely life-changing for me as a young college student because, before this program, I did not know how I would pay for college or get to college. After all, most of my options were at least an hour's drive away.

Dallas College opening up their BAS ECE program solved both of those problems for me, as well as allowing me to not only get paid to complete my student teaching hours but also receive funding for all of my classes so that I can keep all of the money I make in my residency placement. The performance-based learning tasks help me build a portfolio of my student teaching file and get third-party feedback from other professionals in the education field about my teaching strategies and implementation.

I also get feedback and support from my supervisor, mentor teacher, and colleagues. I have wanted to be in the teaching field since I was a high school sophomore and was invited to join the Teaching Internship program at my school. It suddenly became clear that teaching would be an excellent option for me, a teacher's pet. I have always enjoyed the joyful, innocent, and youthful energy young children give off. They have always loved my teachers and school experiences, especially in my elementary school years.

The draw to the teaching field for me is the creativity, resourcefulness, ever-changing environment, and activity level. Early on, I knew I could never take a desk job because I would be bored and restless all day. I could never work in a more "serious" environment because I love being silly but pretty shy.

Teaching is the perfect outlet for all my passions and hobbies and interacting with silly little humans like me. I also love the idea of positively impacting an immeasurable amount of lives in innumerable ways. I hope that with my support, my students will be able to accomplish their goals and take their place in the world.

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