A Little About Me!

“You don't hate history, you hate the way it was taught to you in high school.” (Ambrose)

My name is Staci Jager and I have lived in Coopersville, Michigan for my entire life. I am a junior here at Grand Valley with the intention of becoming a Secondary Education teacher in both History and English. This is my first year at Grand Valley after transferring from Grand Rapids Community College with my Associate’s Degree. My education began at Lamont Christian School, where I remained until 8th grade graduation; for high school, I went to Coopersville Public High School. I am thankful that my parents saw fit to make my siblings and me go to a Christian school first. I am equally thankful that they sent me to a public school for high school, thus giving me the opportunity to experience both private and public schools.
My passionate interest in history began when my brother brought home the mini-series “Band of Brothers.” I then began a personal endeavor to study all about World War II. This personal endeavor has turned into not only studying World War II, but as much history as my brain can hold. The quote at the beginning of this page is by one of my favorite authors. Stephen E. Ambrose is the author of Band of Brothers, the foundation behind the previously mentioned mini-series. I hope to be a high school teacher and to teach it in a way that students will not hate learning history.
Hunting, reading, playing piano, singing, and acting are just a few of my hobbies. I have gone whitetail deer hunting with my father ever since I can remember; every winter I enjoy sitting in a blind in complete silence, waiting for that moment of intense adrenaline rush. I took piano lessons from the age of ten until I was 16. Even though I have finished taking lessons, I find playing the piano quite relaxing and helpful during writer’s block. Finally, in 8th grade my class had the opportunity of putting on the production of Peter Pan and ever since I have enjoyed being on stage. I have also been on four mission trips. The first and third work projects were in Costa Rica, the second was in Haiti and the last one was in Neon, Kentucky. I hope to return to Costa Rica or Haiti in the coming year.
As previously mentioned I hope to become a high school teacher, but that was not always the case. In high school I was confident that I was joining the Air Force upon graduation; I even did a job shadow with a recruiter my senior year. However, after going to an Air Show in Battle Creek it all changed. I had a conversation with one of the Thunderbird pilots and he told me that I should finish school first. He said that if I still wished to join after graduation I could join as an officer, so here I am!
As conclusion, I will state that I hope have animated discussions with fellow students about historical topics that I would not otherwise have. I find that during class many people do not speak up and I hope that through these blogs people will voice their observations without hesitation. Thanks for listening to my rambling, and I hope you enjoyed it!

Quote - found on following website: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/stephen_ambrose_3.html