Elizabeth

I'm Elizabeth and welcome to my myspace! I consider my personality to be cordial, outgoing, and at times, a little eccentric.First and foremost, I am infatuated with films. Growing up in southern California has made me very interested in the movie industry and with acting in general. Even though I have lived primarily in and around the Los Angeles area, I actually love to travel, and have visited several places, including Montana, New York, Mexico, Europe, Canada, Connecticut, Yellowstone National Park, San Francisco, and Las Vegas.Besides acting and traveling, I am also a strong advocate for animals. I love to spend time with and view such creatures as dogs, cats, dolphins, whales, and goats interacting in various environments. I thoroughly support those who enact harsh punitive measures for people who engage in any type of severe cruelty, mistreatment or neglect toward species that may appear weaker than humans.Professionally, I have been working with students who have special needs for a number of years and personally, I have the best family one could ask for. One might ask, "What on earth would entice a young, aspiring actress to decide to change her goals and pursue a career as a special education teacher?" The answer is simple. Although I love acting and ardently admire those with the temerity to perform on the stage or on the movie screen, I believe that one can greatly measure their worth by the type of people who surround them - and what better type of people to associate myself with than those who have had to overcome the effects of a disability to achieve success? I think the ability to overcome adversity is one of the most admirable traits a person can possess. My career not only allows me to watch youngsters with special needs become more successful, but it also allows me to participate in the process of making such youngsters garner intellectual, academic, and social achievements. I cannot imagine anything much more rewarding or worthwhile.In retrospect, I feel that I have been blessed with many accomplishments and opportunities. In high school, I took honors and advanced placement courses, earned an academic letter and pin, graduated with honors, and received two scholarships. I was fortunate enough to have been accepted into five colleges, including UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine, Loyola Marymount University, Pitzer College, and Mount Saint Mary's College. After some debate, I finally decided to attend Pitzer College in Claremont, California, and major in English. I successfully studied the Spanish language and culture for four months in Granada, Spain. Afterwards, I earned my BA in May of 2003 and finished the teaching credential program at California State University, Northridge, in December of 2007. Now, I have acquired my credential in special education mild/moderate disabilities, and I vow to continue striving for success in all areas of teaching.Despite all these accolades, I consider my greatest success to be when I witness a child who used to grapple with a math concept, a writing question, or a spanish term, suddenly be able to comprehend the material once I have worked with them. As an educator, I want to inspire my students the same way that my wonderful teachers and relatives have inspired me.Now, please enjoy my myspace :)