When I finished my undergraduate degree program in December of 2003, I knew that I someday wanted to return to school for my Master's degree I just didn't know for what. I'd played around with the idea of returning to school for photography or design but to me these things were more hobbies than careers and I didn't want them to lose that aspect of 'fun'. After spending consecutive summers riding with the Illini 4000 bike team (2007 and 2008) this 'what' started to become much more clear and in the spring of 2009 I was accepted into both the Experiential Education master's program and the Nonprofit Leadership graduate certificate program at Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minnesota. Throughout my time with the I4K I quickly began to see the connections between education and experience and developed a great interest in John Dewey's educational philosophy that genuine education comes through experience. Having spent a combined 15+ years sitting in a classroom learning via traditional methods it only took a summer on a bicycle to show me that Dewey is indeed right and that there is much that can be learned on the open road through experiences. I graduated from Minnesota State on May 7th and am now actively perusing the job market while also considering the idea of starting my own program - which I created a 'Pilot Program' for as part of my graduate course work. Oddly I'm not stressed, more or less taking things one day at a time as I wait to discover what the future has in store.I passed through Chicago on my way to and from graduation and got to stop and see Alex which was a treat as we always have a lot of catching up to do. I sent out an email to see if any of my other I4K teammates were going to be around but only got a couple of responses so I guess everyone else was busy - which is understandable as it was mother's day weekend. Alex ended up working just the morning shift on the Monday after graduation/mother's day so I actually stayed in Chicago an extra day and went to work with her, hanging out in the cafe while she worked. We then repaired her bicycles and went riding in and around the Chicago Botanic Garden that afternoon. It was fun to ride bicycles with her again and brought back many I4K memories from our time on the road during the summer of 2007!
Alex and I by the Skokie Lagoons before riding to the Botanic Gardens
