Shannon McAnney

Within a month of graduation, I was offered a job as an instructional aid in a classroom at the Watson institute educational center. During my time there I was accepted into the early intervention masters program with a focus on autism at the University of Pittsburgh and received a scholarship, which eventually led to me quitting that job following the completion of the academic year to become a full time graduate student. The most rewarding part of my job at Watson was being there to help my students on their hardest days and not giving up on them. My experiences at Slippery Rock helped me both with my job and getting into graduate school a lot. If it weren't for the fantastic special education department at SRU I wouldn't have felt nearly as prepared to answer interview questions and able handle situations in the classroom that were brand new to me. My advice for future graduates would be to apply for jobs like crazy and go to any and all job interviews for positions that interest you. Remember what made you passionate about becoming a teacher and take that with you wherever you go. If you love what you do, you'll never have to work a day in your life.