Education and Bradley’s Beginnings with Carrigan

Transcript

Okay folks, let’s bring in Carrigan from Germantown Hills, Illinois. A sophomore education major with a minor in music. Bradley’s education program boasts 100% pass rate on Illinois licensure tests. That means students emerge more than ready to teach or enter graduate school after Bradley, over to you Carrigan.

– Thanks, Alex, hey everyone. My Bradley story begins all the way back in 2015. In fifth grade for my historical figure project, I decided to be Lydia Moss Bradley, the founder of Bradley University because her story always inspired me. Lydia Moss Bradley founded Bradley University in 1897, more than 20 years before women in America had the right to vote. As a woman, I take so much pride in attending a female founded college. The education program at Bradley University is beyond any other college I visited. The faculty have given me endless support and the program’s flexibility has allowed me to add a minor in music and multiple endorsements to put me on a successful track. First year students at Bradley are allowed to observe a classroom as early as their first semester. Within my first 30 days on campus, I was in an elementary classroom helping kids with homework and playing with them on the playground. With Bradley being in the heart of Illinois, there are a lot of school systems so students can experience diverse classroom environments from small schools to large districts and everything in between. This early opportunity allowed me to get involved with students from diverse backgrounds, gain wisdom from current educators, and develop an even deeper passion for my major. Education has my heart, but Bradley University’s flexibility has allowed me to involve myself in other passions. Currently I’m involved in multiple music ensembles, a Panhellenic sorority, and this year I’m going to study abroad in London. Bradley University has taught me how to balance my priorities, explore my passions, and plan for my future. I wish I could see 10-year-old Carrigan’s reaction if I told her that her home away from home is the very place that Lydia Moss Bradley founded. Thanks for listening to my story, back to you, Alex.

– Thank you so much for sharing that with us, Carrigan. Striking that balance between priorities and passions can definitely be difficult, but BU is all about becoming your best self. Over a century since its founding, Bradley is still providing its students with, as founder Lydia Moss Bradley put it, the means of living an independent, industrious, and useful life. Many thanks, Carrigan.