I am currently working towards my Bachelors degree in Liberal Studies at Capilano University in North Vancouver, Canada. My name is Sierra Mooney, I am 20 years old and I was born and raised in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I have lived in the same house at the top of a small cul-da-sac for my entire life. I went to a couple of different schools as a kid. I first started off at Westover Elementary School. It was a very small elementary school just down the street from my house. It was so small that when I was going into grade 2, the school closed and I switched to Upper Lynn Elementary School. There, I finished up my elementary school days before I graduated and moved on to Argyle Secondary School. I managed to start and finish my high school chapter at Argyle Secondary before I graduated in June of 2015.

There has been many different experiences, events, and situations that have shaped me into who I am, and have changed me over the years. Firstly, we have my traveling experiences. When I was 15 years old, I decided to hop on a plane all the way to Finland to visit my friend. This friend I had only met once before, which was during the previous summer when she came to visit me for three weeks. I had a very sheltered childhood, so something like this was very different for me. I had never been away from home for more than a week , but never further than 45 minutes for home. So this was way out of my comfort zone to say the least. This trip was one of the best decisions I have ever made. It taught me to be more of an independent person, how to be more aware of my surroundings, and use the tools that I have. Then when I was 18 years old, I decided to backpack around Europe with a friend. This trip definitely had its ups and downs, but overall changed who I am and made me grow up. This trip taught me how to travel with others and most importantly compromise. A second major event in my life was when I got my drivers license and my own car. With getting these privileges I was able to grow as a person, and not be dependent on anyone anymore. I was able to go wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and with whomever I wanted. The third major even in my life is when I got accepted into university. I could finally start learning what I wanted to learn, and get a degree in something I was excited about and couldn’t wait to do for the rest of my life. There was no more getting forced to learn about something I didn’t care about and I was finally starting to develop as an individual. Lastly, we have probably one of the biggest key events in my whole life, the day (and days after) my little brother got arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. From that day on, I was not the same person I used to be, I started to become scared, shy, and anxious; however, as months started to pass I became less of those things are started not caring. This incident made me become emotionally stronger and made me realize how important it is to trust your family and not jump to conclusions. As a result of this, I know not to believe everything I see in the paper or on the news, but to wait until the truth comes out. I’ve learned how important it is to have someones back and to be there for a person. I’ve learned that as time passes on, everything will be okay and wounds will heal. These are just a few of the key events in my life that have shaped me into me.

Since I was young I always knew I wanted to work with kids when I was older. It’s funny, when I was in preschool my teachers asked me what I wanted to do when i was older. I simply answered them, I want to be like you (referring to them being teachers). From that moment on, that’s what i wanted to do, I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to influence young minds the way my teachers influenced me. No matter how many times I would think about other professions, I would always come back to teaching and with a stronger passion to teach than ever. The older I get the older I want to teach. I started out wanting to teach grade one and two, but since high school I have changed my mind and have started thinking about grades six and seven. I find that I really connect well with that age group, as I was an Outdoor School counsellor in high school. I counselled grade six and sevens, and I was able to get them to listen to me and still have a good time learning. It’s such a fun age group and the teachers get to be such a big part of who they become and really start to shape their views.

I have really like the Liberal Studies program so far at Capilano University. It has given me the opportunity to dabble in different disciplines and allow me to figure out that courses are for me. I find that this is a great program if you want to become a teacher as you are able to “build your own program”. I am able to take the courses I want to take and figure out what kind of a teacher I want to be.

So that is a little bit about who I am, where I came from, and where I plan on going. As I go through my time at university, I will continue to grow and shape myself into the person I want to be. I find that the Bachelor in Liberal Studies will help me achieve that and set me on a good path for the rest of my education and life.