Amanda Sierzega was an English major and Education minor at Ursinus College and received her PA Level I teaching certification in English 7-12. She student taught at Spring-Ford Senior High School and graduated Magna Cum Laude in May 2016. At Ursinus, Amanda was a member of the English Honor Society Sigma Tau Delta, the Whitian’s Women’s Honor Society, and the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. She also ran on the Cross Country and Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Teams and was also the copy editor and a featured author in Ursinus’ annual literary magazine, The Lantern. She was the 2016 recipient of the Education Department’s Barbara Olmo McInnis 1957 Prize, awarded annually to an outstanding student in teacher education. Currently, Amanda is contractually employed as an English teacher at Villa Maria Academy High School in Malvern, PA where she also is a member of the Academic Support team and is a faculty advisor of the Diversity Committee.

Receiving a liberal arts education provided me with more than just intellectual and classroom knowledge. Ursinus also taught me how to think deeply about the world and the state, federal, and global educational systems that exist. I learned the value of meaning-making in the classroom and why “planning with the end in mind” creates lessons that in turn create engaged and thoughtful students who in turn understand the value of lifelong learning. Because of the education classes that Ursinus College offers, I enter my classroom with natural purpose and desire, and I wake up every single morning excited to go to work; I know for a fact that the classroom is where I am meant to be. Creating meaningful lessons and giving students the tools necessary to be successful college students and successful members of the professional world post-college through my English classes is possible because of my experiences as a student who also received my teaching certification through Ursinus College. Ursinus also taught me to always self-assess and to never stop growing, for my students and for myself.