Interview #1

Since people have just been begging me for an update, here goes...

Last Friday (as in June 24th) I was a little stressed out that I hadn’t had anyone contact me asking for an interview. Being the procrastinator that I am, I spent the morning creating separate charts for each school that had received a resume from me. Each chart has information like district demographics, proximity to Boston, necessary contacts, and “next steps”. The project took about 2 hours and 4 sheets of paper.

I made a passing comment to a co-worker (individual who has also been referred to as my “mentor”) that I was reluctant to apply for one job in particular because I wasn’t sure if I would actually want to work there. She pointed out that I was thinking too far head, concluding with, “You are no one”. Good point, friend. Anyhow, that was a kick in the arse and I decided to be more proactive. After several emails and phone calls, I had set up an interview with a school district outside of Boston for the following Monday at 10:00 a.m. Perfect, I thought, I can drive to Boston tomorrow (as in Saturday), stay with a friend for a few nights, drive back after my interview on Monday and get home around dinner time. Well after participating in a work-related trip to the National Zoo, walking around in the hot sun looking into empty cages for 4 hours and then getting stuck in traffic in D.C. on the way home, I didn’t have the energy to drive 8 hours north. Instead, I got an early start on Sunday and arrived in Boston (Brighton actually) on Sunday afternoon. After a good night’s sleep I headed out. If you recall, I had a mini-interview with the principal during the April job fair in Boston that I thought went really well. My interview was with another member of the school community who was originally from Berkshire County. Initially I thought the interview went really well but have since started second guessing myself with “I-should-have-said-that”s and “I-should-have-mentioned-this”s. After the interview she said, “Well, I know you would never consider a job offer unless you had seen the school first so I’ll meet you over there and give you a tour”. Wonderful, after making about 8 wrong turns, stopping to ask for directions once, and taking 15 minutes to drive 2.5 miles, I arrived at the school. It is a beautiful building located on a hill. Less than 5 years old, the school has a huge library/media center and auditorium. I spoke to the principal again, met the assistant principal and briefly met other members of the school staff. After leaving, I assured my interviewer that I was very interested in the position despite all of the other school districts I have interviews with (ahem), saying that, “Randolph is definitely my top choice at this point”. She said that she would take it into consideration and call me within a few weeks. Basically, I love this school and really want to become their 7th grade Ancient Civilization Social Studies teacher. Please keep your fingers crossed/say some prayers/hang a horse shoe/pick up a penny heads up or do whatever else you can to contribute to my fortune in this arena.

Oh right, it also took me 11 hours to drive to Virginia from Boston on Monday because I hit New York City at 4:00 p.m. (genius). I had timed it so that I would hit NYC at 3 p.m. but had to stop several times and missed my ETA by about an hour. I came to a standstill about 4 exits away from the George Washington Bridge. My speedometer didn’t go over 0 mph for quite some time and it took me almost 4 hours to drive 10 miles. Sweet.