Well, the decision's been made. In about two weeks, I enter the wild world of teaching high school. "How did this happen?", you may wonder? "I thought you were having a great time investigating the microbial ecology of freshwater zooplankton disease dynamics." If you said that, you're totally right. I have had a great time. I have really enjoyed research, but, I can't be a PostDoc forever and appealing opportunities are hard to come by. So, when I got an email in my inbox looking for someone to teach IB Biology at a school in a charming Atlanta suburb, a school that already employs a friend of mine, a school that values higher education in its teachers and makes an effort to streamline the transition into teaching for those who are willing to work in their advanced programs, well, when I got that email, I sent in my resume. The rest is history.
I know that lots of things are going to change for me, not the least of which is the structured schedule that starts at 7am. That's right, I have to be at my job, which is about 30 miles from my house, at 7am. Fortunately, I've grown accustomed to an early wake-up call (or maybe I should say 'wake-up cry'). Anyway, I'll miss my time at Georgia Tech but, honestly, it's way past time for me to move on. I've been here for 15 years. I've never been anywhere for 15 years! It's longer than I was in school before I came to Georgia Tech! If I add my education all up together, more than half of it was at Georgia Tech! Seriously, I never really envisioned myself as a "Georgia Tech person" and, yet, somehow, I've become an institution. I've been here longer than the campanile and it's on the logo! So, if I wasn't an adult before, I am now. I'll let you know how it goes.
