My Autobiography 1

Pikes Peak Community College

My Autobiography

Autobiography

Chrystal Connolly

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

ECE 101

Introduction to Early Childhood Education

By

Sari-Marie Barnes

Colorado Springs, Colorado

October 2012
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Abstract

This defines my story as an individual and my reasoning to want to be a director in Early

Childhood Education. It is my inspiration story through my point of view.

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My Autobiography

Telling your story isn’t all that simple. Neither is mine. In the simplest of words, I am

still growing to know myself, who I am, and eager to see who I’ll become. Every aspect of my

life has shaped me as a person and why I want to become a director, especially my childhood.

You could say that I have been socially formed, like any other person, but everyone is unique.

My background, my culture, my family and the main figures in my life set the stage of my story

as of now.

Early years were tough

Before I came into this world, my mother already knew she would call me Sari. My name

was chosen from the Bible, from Sarah’s experience. Sarah was Abraham’s wife and was an old

women in her nineties when she miraculously conceived a child. Sari, is a form of Sarai (Sarah’s

name before God had renamed her after the miracle birth of her unexpected son, Isaac) and in

Hebrew it means “ my princess”. Also, I was the firstborn child in my family. My parents were

young when they married and had me. My mother, Victoria, wed at eighteen right out of high

school to my father, Michael, who was twenty two. My mother was pregnant with me at nineteen

and had me only four days after she turned twenty (I was my mom’s belated birthday gift). Just

like many children early on, my parents gave me great care and provided my for my physical

needs. They enrolled me in preschool and kindergarten. Since my family is very spiritual, they

put me and some of my siblings in a Lutheran preschool and kindergarten. However, back in

2000, my parents divorced. I was only eight years old. My dad worked as much as he could to

provide for us as a family early on. With his work stress and drinking at the time came a short

fuse, which led to all the fights between him and my mother, which led to the divorce. My

mother was then forced on her own with three little girls. I can say that growing up for a short
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time with just my mother and my sisters was hard. After she lost her job at one of the clinics

which she worked, we lost the small apartment we were staying in and had to fall back on my

Nana and Papa ( my great grandparents). After that, I had the worst time in school. I was bullied

by my peers for my appearance and had a lot of self-esteem issues because of my weight, which

was due to a childhood diagnosis of hypothyroidism. I was pretty shattered and felt like I

couldn’t trust the adults in my life, including some of my teachers.

The man who inspired me

At sixteen years old I was living with my dad and step mom. I had signed up for choir

that year at my high school in Billings, Montana and had the most amazing teacher I’ve had the

pleasure to meet in all my high school years: Mr. Corey. He was tall, broad shouldered, and had

a rotund middle. Despite Mr. Corey’s big and intimidating appearance, he was a kind,

warmhearted man. He had a passion for music and kids. Every moment in his class made me

much more confident in myself and it always cheered me up. So when it came to picking a career

early on, I knew right away that teaching was it. I wanted to be like the man that taught me, gave

me confidence and comfort. He allowed me be myself and do incredible things. When came my

super senior year here in Colorado, I decided to switch my college degree from teaching to

becoming a director (though to be a director, one must teach).

Conclusion

Today I work towards this goal determined to make a difference for children. My life

experiences have led me here on the road to becoming a director in the future. I trust that

someday, through classes such as these and through much wonderful experience in this field, that

I go over and beyond to make children’s experiences much happier than mine growing up and

guide them in the right direction.