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As a baby, my mom and dad both read to me in the rocking chair in my bedroom. They read a lot of Nursery Rhyme books to me.
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Throughout these years, I remember starting to read a lot with my parents and at school. I read and was read to books by Eric Carle and Dr. Seuss. I distinctly remember a cozy corner in our library where my 1st grade class would sit and be read to by the librarians.
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Beginning in 2nd grade, I started playing sports, which is where my sports literacy developed. I became rather literate in sports such as soccer, basketball, and softball.
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Throughout all of 3rd grade, I wanted to be Junie B. Jones. She was an idol of mine, and although she was younger than me during the time that I read her books, I still loved her personality and thought the books were very clever.
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I started acting in plays when I was in 4th grade. This broadened my literacy of theater terms, such as words like script, director, monologue, audition, and more.
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I discovered an undying love for primates when I started 6th grade. I read a lot about chimpanzees and Jane Goodall, seeing as I really wanted to become a primatologist at the time. I learned a decent amount of terms regarding chimps and monkeys in general.
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Freshman year of high school is when I started taking Child Development classes. My knowledge and understanding of terms that relate to early child development grew when enrolled in these classes for my four years of high school.
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I joined a sorority during my sophomore year here at Illinois State. Our philanthropy is St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, so my literacy about juvenile cancer, treatments, and the hospital in general really increased once I joined.
