California, here we come...

A post that many of you have been anticipating like a kid with her stocking on Christmas morning or maybe like a tween girl awaiting the release of Eclipse on June 30 (obviously kidding). Finally, in its entirety I give you my first-hand account of my employment journey.

Chapter 1: The Application

I had just gotten rejected from something for the first time in my life. It was weird and humbling. I was disheartened. When I got that "No" for the teaching position at Westminster, I was convinced that it meant the door to teaching was shut. Still, I haphazardly and apathetically sent out my resume to a few schools.

On March 24 I emailed the superintendent of San Jose Christian School with my resume and cover letter. He immediately responded that he was interested and forwarded on to me an application and some other forms. I filled them out and faxed them back.

And then I waited for five weeks.

I hadn't heard anything back. I had long forgotten about San Jose Christian School.

Chapter 2: The Interview

But on April 19, five weeks after I sent in my application, I got an email from the superintendent saying that the educational committee would like to interview me. I set up the phone interview for the next Wednesday, the day that I was flying out to New York.

Then I did some research on the school. What I uncovered was not appealing. I started to think of this interview as a joke; something that I wouldn't seriously consider.

Wednesday came and I had a sloppy interview. I was preoccupied with getting ready for my trip to NYC and not in a state of mind to be articulating my philosophical convictions about Christian education, literature, writing, and grammar. Plus, I was in my cloffice and people kept knocking on my office door during my interview. I was distracted and embarrassed. I literally almost told the committee to forget it altogether because I wasn't interested.

I managed to stumble through the interview and left on a plane later that day. A few days later I was sitting in an NYC coffee shop when I got a phone call from a 408 area code. The superintendent was on the other line. To make a long conversation short--he offered me the job and invited me to come out to visit the school at my earliest convenience. Thought process:

Whoa. So I have a job offer without them even meeting me? Dang. My interview sucked. What does that imply about the school? Okay, but I already know this school isn't a good fit, should I even consider going out there if I know I wouldn't take it anyway?

But I agreed that I would like to visit the school. He was happy and said he would be sending off a copy of my contract in the mail for me to take a look at. I got my contract in the mail when I got back from NYC, looked it over, compared some things, investigated the area, and decided that it was a good offer--still wasn't sure what to make of everything.

Chapter 3: The Visit

Last Wednesday, I flew out of GR, transferred in O'Hare, and flew directly into San Jose, California. I arrived at 12:30a Eastern Time (9:30p Pacific Time). I was exhausted; it is a long flight. The superintendent was waiting for me at the gate with a Calvin sweatshirt on (he's a Calvin grad). We shook hands and drove off to his house, where I would be staying through Sunday.

Right. San Jose is not Los Angeles. San Jose = Northern California. There's a rivalry between NorCal and SoCal. Don't make the faux pas by confusing the two.

Thursday was a day to get to know the school.

Front of skool

Profile: K-8; private, Christian school; founded in 1960; 310 students
Building: No hallways, no lockers (typical California); two wings: one for elementary, the other for middle school with a learning center, music/band room, auditorium, computer lab, media center, and administrative buildings mixed in between. SJCS rents their property from a public school district.

California weather means no need for pesky hallways!

Before the bell rang for the beginning of the day, I got to meet a lot of the staff members. All of them are women. Majority of them are married. I would say 50% are younger, the other 50% are 35+ (notice: I do not call 35+ "old" -- haha Rebecca). Everyone on staff was welcoming and happy. Each of them greeted me by name and asked me great questions. They sang praises of their school and their students. They said they wouldn't want to work anywhere else. They all were expecting me. I guess the superintendent sent out numerous emails to the staff asking their input as to what I should do during my stay. They had been preparing for me for two weeks. Talk about hospitality. Bob Crow would be proud.

When the bell rang, we made our way to the middle school language arts classroom. I observed a few classes. I got to sit down and chat with the current MSLA teacher (who is, interestingly, very similar to me in looks and in personality). She had been teaching for three years, just had a baby, and wanted go home and be a good mom for awhile. She said she was sad to leave the school, but she was so happy that I was there. "You'd love it here," she said. "I've never heard of anyone who hasn't liked it here. Oh, the students are great, by the way. Just get used to that. They're smart so be prepared to give them a challenge."

My future desk

My future right side of the classroom

She wasn't kidding. I loved observing the students in class and on their breaks outside. They, of course, are middle schoolers through and through, but they were so eager to learn. It was a classroom community (right, education majors?!). The demographic of the Silicon Valley region is affluent, well-educated people. This school's students come from the expectation that they will be very successful in life (amazingly, this doesn't come off as snooty).

At lunch, there was a delicious luncheon thrown in my honor. "I hope you know that this is all for you. In case you didn't know, we really hope you work here," one staff member said to me as we grabbed our food.

I got to observe some more classtime, review the current curriculum, and even watch a soccer game after school (The kids were convinced that they had to win their game so that Miss Zwart would come teach at their school. I was "so cool"--and had "good fashion" sense. Middle school logic at its finest.)

Thursday night I got to hang out in Santana Row. It's like a European style area with live music, great cafes, and swanky shopping areas. We ate at a phenomenal Japanese restaurant. Words cannot describe the perfection of their raw fish.

Beautiful Santana Row

Friday was the Fine Arts Festival. I traveled with about 40 middle schoolers to a school an hour north for a morning of dramatic and musical performances. So cute. A few brave 6th graders sat down with me and chatted me.

One boy was hilarious.
He sits down next to me shyly and asks, "Um... are you a Miss or Mrs.?"
"I'm a Miss."
"Oh, that's cool. Me too. I mean, I'm not married either."
Love = Middle school awkwardness

In the afternoon, a teacher and her husband picked me up, and they had compiled a list of apartments that I could check out from different neighborhoods in San Jose. The cost of living is about 3-4 times that of Grand Rapids depending on where you go--hence, there was a little bit of anxiety surrounding this topic. However, it was fun to see what was available and I even saw a few things that were interesting and livable.At night we went to Willow Glen, another neighborhood in San Jose, for dinner and ice cream. Afterwards, the superintendent took me driving around downtown San Jose--it's a big hockey town.

Foothills + Downtown San Jose (click for better view)

Art Museum

Saturday was a day spent in San Francisco (about a 45-minute beautiful drive away). Interestingly, San Jose is a bigger city than San Fran. Who knew? Anyway. I saw the Full House house, the Golden Gate Bridge, Union Square, the seals at Pier 39, Chinatown, Giants stadium, Alcatraz, and the Crooked Street. It was a sightseers dream. It was pretty fun.

San Fran + Bay Bridge

At night was the school auction, a well-attended fundraiser for the school. Everyone got dressed up, there was great Napa Valley wine, and plenty of great stuff to bid on. I felt like there was a line of parents just waiting to talk with me and persuade me to teach at SJCS. Some of the kindest people ever. "I love driving a U-Haul so if you want me to fly out to Grand Rapids, I'd be happy to drive it over for you." "I know the housing market out here is pricey, but if need a place to stay for a few months, you can always stay in our guest room." And from the former superintendent at the end of the night: "I've been watching you tonight and trying to see what kind of person you are. You're gold, absolute gold. I pray God's will be done, but I also pray that you come to this school. You will thrive here." I made a joke to the superintendent at the auction--"So how much did it cost you to pay all these people to tell me how great your school is?" He laughed, "I know, it seems kind of crazy, but it's really what we're like around here."

Chapter 4: The Acceptance

The next morning, I flew back to GR.
Monday afternoon I called the superintendent.
I accepted the position.

To be honest, I knew within 3 hours of being on the school's campus that I was going to take it. But everything after that just affirmed my choice. I am 100% confident that this is where God is calling me to be for next year. I am so thankful and feel so blessed with this opportunity. I could not ask for a better school community, students, staff, and location of beautiful, sunny, so-many-things-to-do-all-the-time California.

Chapter 5: The Move (to be written)

I'm still figuring out when I will move out there exactly, but I anticipate staying in GR through the end of July (for the sake of orientation season). I'd like to drive out the first week in August and start settling into my apartment before staff training begins on August 16.

Epilogue

Thank you all for your prayers. Words cannot express how thankful I am that I feel so assured of where I need to be next year. It is certain to be an adventure where I will grow, develop, and thrive (I hope!).

And I'll also add that San Jose is a fantastic place to visit (beaches like Santa Cruz, skiing at Lake Tahoe, hiking in Yosemite, fishing areas like Monterey, shopping pretty much everywhere, cities like San Fran and San Jose, wine country at Napa Valley, hiking amidst redwoods, phenomenal food, etc.). So... keep that in mind the next time you have a week off :)

Author's Note

I truly hope that you didn't read this entire post. Much of it was for myself to process the trip and everything that happened chronologically. But if you DID read it, wow. You get an A, gold star, extra credit, and all those other teacher-associated reward systems that we have.