This post will cover the last of my top three moments from 2023 (again, in no particular order). If you are interested in the other two, click here to read about my trip to Gold Bar, Washington or click here to meet the two newest Croupe family members. Just like my other two posts, I'll provide a little background on how I got to this point.
Some people would make excellent professional students. They enjoy research and study and want to attend classes with others interested in the same things. My husband is one of those people. I am not. I always did fine in school. I didn't hate it or anything. I understood that to be a teacher I had to go to college, so I did all the right things and got my BA in English in 2003. However, and my undergraduate GPA can attest to this, I wasn't the best at being a student. My study skills kinda stunk. I was not great at making to every class. I had this paralyzing fear of speaking with my professors about anything. Therefore, I would need extrinsic motivators to sign up for any more schooling in the future. Turns out, the district I taught in required a Masters which motivated an MLA in 2010. Excellent. Done. Right?
Enter a brisk, Saturday morning in the fall of 2018 during a paraprofessional learning conference, I stood in the hallway between sessions chatting with my Director (Instructional Technology) when she casually drops the question: "Why don't you have your Doctorate?" The easy answer was I don't do student-ing very well, so I avoid the potential of failure like the plague. The more complicated answer (that I realize now) is that the Imposter Syndrome that taunts me daily, had me believing I was not the type of person who deserved a Dr. at the front of her name. That was for distinguished people. That was for highly intelligent people. That was for people who could contribute innovative ideas to the world.
Me in August of 2023:
Exactly 20 years after I graduated with my BA, I now have my EdD in Educational Leadership. The journey was awesome. I still wasn't the best student, but I found something I loved to focus on for my study. Even now, when I read through my study I am quite proud of what I accomplished. (A great way to shut up that Imposter Syndrome - BTW.) What it really took was someone, my Director, who saw me as the type of person who deserved that Dr. in front of her name. She believed that about me, and then I did too. (Actually, it turned out a LOT of people believed that about me. It is amazing how we can be harder on ourselves.)
I'm still not used to addressing myself as Dr. Croupe, and I've had people point out how jerky it can be to correct people who still call me Mrs. Croupe. However, neither of those will keep me from saying this: I look forward to the day the mail starts coming in addressed to Dr. and Mr. Croupe.
PS: If you've earned a Doctorate, be proud of that. I'll gladly call you Dr. I'll also correct others on your behalf if they don't.
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