{"id":2923,"date":"2021-12-07T11:50:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-07T16:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/academics\/?p=2923"},"modified":"2021-12-07T12:19:33","modified_gmt":"2021-12-07T17:19:33","slug":"a-childhood-dream-come-true","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/academics\/a-childhood-dream-come-true\/","title":{"rendered":"A Childhood Dream Come True"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.8.1″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.8.1″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.8.1″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/academics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2021\/12\/Alex-Tracy-Grad-Profile-1280.jpg” title_text=”Alex-Tracy-Grad-Profile-1280″ _builder_version=”4.8.1″ _module_preset=”default”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.8.1″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n

As a kid growing up, Alex Tracy wanted to be a teacher.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When he was six years old, he would come home from school and teach his homework to his stuffed animals, family members, or to no one at all.<\/span> That dream never changed.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Fall 2021 Winona State University student is graduating with an Education degree in Social Studies. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI knew I always wanted to be in a role that impacted and cared for other people,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

At WSU, Tracy got to explore his interest in not only education, but also other passions of his:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the courses I took were history and social\u00a0science\u00a0courses,\u201d Tracy said, adding that his classes on World War II and the Holocaust were especially impactful. \u201cI feel like\u00a0I learned a lot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Outside of his classes, his time at WSU was filled with engaging experiences. One in particular was when he participated in the Warrior Vote group in 2020, which was a program that encouraged people to take part in the election.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe drew a group of people including athletes,\u00a0student senators, (and Resident Assistants)\u00a0on campus,\u201d Tracy said. \u201cI got to work closely with them to engage people in the election and to get out and vote and have their voice heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being able to connect with people is a big factor of why Alex is so passionate about teaching. <\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, he wants to teach middle schoolers once he graduates because of how well he connects with them: <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey are challenging, but in a fun way,\u201d Tracy said.<\/p>\n

Most important to Tracy is having an impact on students:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt\u2019s cool when you are in a setting where people come from different areas, from different backgrounds, from different stories\u2014and you get to know each one of them individually,\u201d Tracy said. \u201cI like building those relationships with kids.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Tracy\u00a0treasured his time at\u00a0Winona State\u00a0and enjoyed the close-knit community and the fact that he could walk\u00a0across\u00a0campus and would inevitably run into someone he knows.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI will absolutely miss the community and the friendships I\u2019ve made.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Four years filled with friends, classes, community, and Panda Express go by quite quickly, but Tracy\u2019s advice to new students beginning their college journey is the same that he\u2019ll live by as he goes out into the world with his new degree:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_testimonial _builder_version=”4.8.1″ _module_preset=”default”]<\/p>\n

Just don\u2019t be afraid to get yourself out there. Take advantage of every opportunity.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/et_pb_testimonial][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a kid growing up, Alex Tracy wanted to be a teacher.\u00a0\u00a0 When he was six years old, he would come home from school and teach his homework to his stuffed animals, family members, or to no one at all. That dream never changed.\u00a0 The Fall 2021 Winona State University student is graduating with an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":2952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[24,28,305,52,360],"tags":[338,386,282],"class_list":["post-2923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","category-academics","category-commencement","category-feature-post","category-featured-post","tag-academics","tag-coe","tag-commencement"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/academics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2021\/12\/Alex-Tracy-Grad-Profile-1280.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb2ffS-L9","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2923"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2959,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2923\/revisions\/2959"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}