Jennevieve Scott, an English language arts and education senior, is a non-traditional student with a husband and five children who discovered her love for teaching after she became a substitute teacher around 2018. She was vice president of the Oklahoma Aspiring Educators Association and a Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education ambassador. She was awarded the Betty Evans Scholarship, the P.B. Odom III Scholarship and qualified for the Lew Wentz Foundation Oklahoma Teacher Debt Forgiveness Loan.
Q: What have you learned from your time at OU?
A: I have learned perspective, perspectives that have broadened my worldview, so I can be a better educator. I have learned how to be more compassionate. I have learned to be more confident. I learned how to be a better writer. I have learned how to be a better teacher. I learned how to be a better listener. I don't know that there's really any part of my life that hasn't been, somehow, impacted or affected by my time at OU. The things that you learn, they're the ways that you're challenged to grow, they change you. And hopefully, they change for the better. And I believe that they have. I think that I am a kinder, more thoughtful human being than I was maybe when I entered the university.
Q: Who was your favorite professor/adviser/faculty member at OU and why?
A: Dr. Crag Hill. He has been an amazing support and an amazing encourager. He's 100 percent there for you. You could call on him for anything, and he's there to support you in your education.
Q: What are your post-graduation goals?
A: I want to get my master's. I plan on doing that. Hopefully, I'll be finished with that in the next four to five years. It's hard to tell after that. I have dreams of getting a Ph.D., and going further. I would probably wait until my kids are out of the house, but I think it would be fun to do. … Right now, I just want to teach. I want to teach for as long as I love it, and once I don't love it anymore, then that's when it's time to change professions. That's the purpose behind the master's degree. Our students deserve teachers who love being in a classroom and are happy to be in the classroom. So, as long as I can be that teacher, I'm going to. The second I don't love it anymore, or the moment that I no longer feel like I can best serve my students, that’s when it's time to move on.
Q: How has your time at OU shaped who you are today?
A: I'm a non-traditional student. I'm older than a lot of students, and a lot of my peers, but it has reminded me that we never stopped growing and we never stop learning. Life is a process of discovery. We're constantly discovering who we are and who we are in relation to the world.
Q: What advice would you give to your younger self?
A: Be patient. Good stuff takes time. You will come to things in due time when the timing is right. Don't be so hard on yourself.
Q: What is your advice for upcoming and current OU students?
A: Find your people. Find your community. That is the thing that has supported me and gotten me through it. I am so super blessed that I have my family at home also to support me. When you're a college student, and you're in the thick of it, only another student is going to understand what it means.
Q: What will you miss the most about OU?
A: I miss it already because I'm in my internship. It’s hard sometimes driving on campus knowing that I'm not there anymore. I miss the people in my college. I am going to miss Tuesday tea, and I am going to miss popping into some of the faculty and staff members’ offices just to chat. I'm gonna miss student events. Believe it or not, I'm afraid that I'm going to miss writing papers. I feel like I know how to be a student really well at this point. I worry whether or not that's going to translate well as a teacher because it's a role reversal. I think that it would be easier to say, "What am I not going to miss?" because there's so little that I'm not going to miss.
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This story was edited by Karoline Leonard and Colton Sulley. Ansley Chambers copy edited this story.