2 days have flown by here at TMEA/ TI:ME. I cannot believe I’ve been here for two days already and only have one more day..I might cry. It has been amazing, I’m not use to the attention being on me so being the TOTY this year has been really cool. We are really one big family and being down here is one big family reunion..why can’t we all work in the same school? It would make life so much more fun! Being the youngest TOTY is kind of fun too, it is very humbling to have so many people remind me of how much I’ve accomplished in such a short amount of time and it reminds me I’ve still got a long ways to go. Time to stand up and believe I am a leader and act on it.

(This is sort of a late night rant) It surprisingly still shocks me when someone I have just met judges me as a tech savvy high school/college student still. I graduated with my undergrads over 4 years ago…c’mmmoooonnnn people! I was sitting in my friend Amy Burn’s session yesterday and helped a woman download the Guidebook app for the conference. She was pleasant enough and thanked me before starting a conversation. We discussed how un tech savvy she was (her words) before she asked me which college I attended…I promptly excused myself to go see if Amy needed assistance with her projector and then came back and replied “actually I’ve been teaching 4 years, I’m presenting next.” Her jaw might have dropped a couple of stories with that remark. It got me thinking though, not many young people like myself are pushing themselves to do things like I am. I would say I might be one of the youngest presenters here. To me it becomes a challenge to get more young presenters out and about. We need more young leaders ready to step up for when it becomes time. There are not many my age around and it’s time to change that. We have just as much to say as the next person and should not be afraid to say it especially when it comes to technology. Why aren’t you putting in conference proposals? Why aren’t you involving yourselves in the important conversations? I’ve learned so much from just jumping in. It forces me to further my knowledge because I get to research it. My mind grows with every presentation I do or conversation I have.

it’s time to stand up and have a voice , won’t you join in?

Hey, have you heard of Technology Institute for Music Educators (TI:ME)? Check them out and join today ti-me.org .