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Alora Wheeler
childhood
By the grace of God, I was born to a wonderful family in the beautiful state of Virginia. I lived in Norfolk with my mother, my brother, and my grandparents until I was nearly seven years old. It was great living there because I was very close to my cousins and other family members; I gained a family-centered lifestyle from a young age. Just before I turned seven, my mother re-married and we relocated to Smithfield, Virginia to live with the man who was to become my biggest supporter and my dad.
Growing up, I really enjoyed being outdoors. I would go camping every summer and fishing and hunting with my dad whenever possible. I loved to play board games and really interact with people. My personality was, and is, extremely extroverted, and thus gave me the ability to make friends pretty easily.
Shortly after moving to Smithfield, I began to play softball for the local recreation team. I grew fond of the sport very quickly, and before long I was playing travel softball. I continued to play travel softball all through my elementary, middle, and high school years. My involvement in softball led to me receiving a scholarship to Chowan University in North Carolina.
college
I attended college at Chowan University which is located in the high-poverty town of Murfreesboro, North Carolina. It was a huge culture shock for me coming from a middle-class town to an area where there was virtually nothing to do. However, looking back, Murfreesboro has nothing on the culture shock that I experienced coming down to Mississippi.
I entered college on an athletic scholarship with a declared major of exercise science. I spent my first year trying to adjust to the big life change and attempting to be as involved as possible. I got rather home sick in my first semester, but quickly learned how to be more independent and enjoy life away from home. Once I adjusted to the new lifestyle, I thrived in college.
Starting my sophomore year of college, I began working very hard to be involved in various aspects of life at Chowan University. Aside from being a part of the softball team, I became very involved in the honors college, working in the writing and tutoring centers, and held leadership positions in the Honors College Student Association. My junior year, I added another major in biology and a minor in chemistry to my education aspirations, forcing me to become very acquainted with time management and put creative attempts towards being organized. I graduated from Chowan University in 2015 with degrees in Exercise Science and Biology.
adulting
My last year of college began my transition towards the adult world. The transition from a college student to an adult is not as easy as one would hope for. I went from being surrounded by people my age, with easy access to everything I needed to being completely unsure of how to function independently. Luckily, for most of my senior year, I had the ease of knowing I had a job secured after graduation. However, the end of February came around and I found out that the job had fallen through due to circumstances at the office in which I was going to work. I then was experiencing the stress and uncertainty that all of my peers had been talking about for months. So, after much research, I applied to the Mississippi Teacher Corps on the final day for applications. To my great benefit, I was accepted into the program, and moved to Mississippi shortly following my graduation.
The time since I joined the teacher corps has been an amazing whirlwind that has put me through every emotion possible. I went through my first year with another MTC teacher, Beth Waddell, who spent many late nights and long talks with me about how we were going to survive the first nine weeks, let alone two years. To the great surprise to everyone, including me, I going engaged in my second semester teaching, and married in the summer before the second year started. From my time in college, through the teacher corps, to the moment I am in now, I have never felt more accomplished and proud of myself. I have grown up so much and been shaped into a much better person due to my time in the great state of Mississippi.
