I was born in 1983 and was raised in Saudi Arabia, which is my country of origin.I also graduated from high school there, earning as high as 87% in my overall grades. I really wanted to prove to my family that their efforts were not in vain. My family values a decent education; they are always supportive and they encouraged me and my two elder sisters to strive to fulfill our educational goals. From 2001 to 2005, soon after graduation, I successfully enrolled in the college of Arts and Education in Taif, Saudi Arabia. I finished a four-year undergraduate program in the Arabic language and, in 2005 I received a degree of Bachelor of Arts and Education. Apart from my curriculum and program, I chose to attend a number of extracurricular English classes to improve my language skills and prepare myself for further studies. During my last semester at the university, I practiced regular teaching in high school, volunteered in a children day care center and actively supported family work within my community. This was indeed an interesting period in my life because only then I realized that I have a good potential for leadership and teaching, especially, working with children as young as pre-school age. Those young kids got attached to me, and I also immensely benefitted from my interactions with them.
In 2012, holding the degree of Bachelor of Arts and Education, I applied to Webster University in USA, and I got accepted. Currently, I am in my last semester of master’s studies at Webster University, and my major is Early Childhood Education. I am expected to graduate in May 2014. MA in Early Childhood Education means a lot to me, since my long-standing goal is to become a valuable leader in elementary education and to endeavor to improve the general education in Saudi Arabia. My present research and study interests include young children’s language and learning acquisition, and developmental theory of pre-school children. I benefitted from the master’s program, since it offered a sound background of the best learning practices and research in the field, alongside with broadening my view of the capabilities of children in early childhood.
At present, I am applying to a PhD program in Educational Leadership at Saint Louis University. I am interested in this particular program because I want to become a professional, majoring in Educational Leadership. For me, to be a leader is to work together with scholars who are leaders in their field within the community. As a good leader, I will seek to provide a constant support to the community I live in and strengthen a commitment of service to it. After graduation, I am planning to return to my home country and apply to the position of a Director of Elementary Education. My future career in Saudi Arabia will profoundly depend on quality and professionalism. These are two main values I will strive to achieve and improve during my doctoral studies. Being a serious educational professional, I am ready to develop new skills to ensure that I am a competitive leader in elementary education.
References
Resume. (2014).
Educational Leadership. Doctor of Philosophy Degree. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.slu.edu/educational-leadership-phd
