Hi, my name's SkyeLyn, and I'm a nerd.
I was the 8 year old girl who read atlases and took notes on every single country and the people who lived there. I was the girl who sat in our big blue chairs in our office and read the encyclopedias. I was the 11 year old girl who asked for a copy of the Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, and the Articles of Confederation for my birthday so I could hang them on my wall. I was the little girl who told everyone that I was going to be a doctor when I grew up. I wasn't smart, just passionate.
And then high school happened. My mom MADE me take this class called American Studies (a class that I have literally heard more nightmares about than American Heritage at BYU). I remember walking into class the first day at Lone Peak literally shaking. I remember not knowing anyone in the class and thinking "everyone in here is a genius and I am way out of place here." I remember trying to make myself as small as possible, and never talking. I remember Mr. Birrell and Ms. Woolsey not smiling and telling us that we were not going to have a life outside of this class.
It was in that class that I found my life.
And then our first in class essay happened and everyone was FREAKING out. I wrote what I thought was the worst essay of my life and I walked out of class thinking my grade was tanked. I remember getting my essay back in class, opening the booklet and seeing a big 100% written inside. I remember Mr. Birrell and Mrs. Woolsey saying I was only the third person in decades to get a 100. I remember how suddenly everyone knew who I was, like I'd made some huge feat or something. I wasn't smart, just passionate. I remember playing steal the flag and learning why WWI was a stalemate. I remember being shoved into a tiny hallway with 60 other kids for an hour and half, and catching the TINIEST glimpse of cattle cars transporting Jews to concentration camps during the Holocaust. I remember being picked to represent Pres. Harry S. Truman and arguing why I too would drop the atomic bomb on Japan during WWII. In that class I found SkyeLyn Taylor. I wasn't smart, just passionate. I found the thing that I had a passion for. I made friends in that class who saved my life and made me who I am today. I learned what it means to be not only an American, but what it means to be a human. I learned to ask questions like "what do we owe each other?" "Are people altruistic or self-interested?" "Should the government legislate morality?" "How do people create a government with legitimacy and sovereignty?" "What rights are inalienable?" "Is the government responsible for my welfare?" I learned to think for myself. I learned what it means to be a good citizen. I found passion. Funny how one class can shape my whole life, because I found my career--and I wasn't going to be a doctor.
I remember finding the Teaching Social Science major before my freshman year at BYU and declaring it immediately. I remember my dad trying to tell me that I wouldn't make very much money as a teacher and I wouldn't get much thanks from my students, but if it's what I really loved, then I should do it. I remember taking American Heritage and knowing that I HAD to be a TA. And then my sophomore year, I applied. I was the one applicant who got hired on the spot. I wasn't smart, just passionate. And then the panic set in. How in the world could I teach 90 students as an undergraduate myself? Most of them would be smarter and older than me. But the day of my first class came--and I knew this would be a job that I would do, even if I didn't get paid.
Talking to each student, I developed a love for them and a crazy desire for every single one of them to be happy and succeed. I love nothing more than when they surprise me with their incredible insights and wisdom. I love when they firmly believe that people are virtuous and will promote the welfare of society--even when that requires them to disagree with political philosophers like Plato and Socrates. I love when they quote John Locke and don't even know it--and my heart just smiles inside. Every now and again, Heavenly Father allows me the privilege to get a glimpse of how he sees them--with immeasurable intelligence and the capacity to make this world a better place. Although being a TA is the hardest, most time consuming, frustrating thing I have ever done, I wouldn't trade it for anything, because it gives me the most fulfillment that I have ever felt in my life before. And I know being a TA is just the beginning.
I'm grateful for the path my Heavenly Father put me on when I was 8 years old.
