God works in mysterious ways. A tired cliche? Yes. But what follows is
a story too riddled with coincidences to be one itself.
I first applied to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's law school back in 2009. I applied there and a dozen other schools, and got almost a dozen rejections. As a result of my dimming prospects, I applied to Teach For America as a backup plan in case nothing worked out. Coincidentally, it wasn't until after I had accepted the offer to join TFA that one of my top schools - the University of Utah - finally got around to offering me a seat in their program. By that time I was committed. Law school would have to wait for two years. I was going to be a teacher in North Carolina.
One of the first things Celeste and I did when we arrived in our new state was visit the UNC campus. In those first few months living and teaching in the Tar Heel State, I became more convicted about attending UNC. It was a top 30 law school. It was in beautiful Chapel Hill. I would be an in-state resident, which meant that I’d get one of the most prominent and cost-effective law degrees in the
nation. It felt meant to be.
I first applied to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's law school back in 2009. I applied there and a dozen other schools, and got almost a dozen rejections. As a result of my dimming prospects, I applied to Teach For America as a backup plan in case nothing worked out. Coincidentally, it wasn't until after I had accepted the offer to join TFA that one of my top schools - the University of Utah - finally got around to offering me a seat in their program. By that time I was committed. Law school would have to wait for two years. I was going to be a teacher in North Carolina.
One of the first things Celeste and I did when we arrived in our new state was visit the UNC campus. In those first few months living and teaching in the Tar Heel State, I became more convicted about attending UNC. It was a top 30 law school. It was in beautiful Chapel Hill. I would be an in-state resident, which meant that I’d get one of the most prominent and cost-effective law degrees in the
nation. It felt meant to be.
Then comes the matter of actually being accepted. I mean, sure, I felt like it was meant to be, but I had to convince the admissions committee of the same. My resume
already looked good and was about to look better with TFA under my belt.
I had spoken at length - and in person - with the Director of Admissions at UNC, and she had helped me to craft a newer, sharper application. Jackson Olsen 2.0. The only thing, she said, was my LSAT score. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great, either. Bring that score up even by a point, she said, and I would become an irresistible candidate. As if that wasn't enough, Celeste and I went to the
Raleigh Temple shortly afterwards, and it was there where I heard
(or felt) the voice of the Lord speaking to me. No voice of thunder.
No ray of light from the heavens. Just a simple phrase that imprinted
itself onto my soul harassed me like a mosquito: retake the LSAT.
When God
speaks, you listen. So, shortly after this experience, I began preparing
in earnest to take the LSAT one more time. For those of you who don’t
know, the LSAT is a miserable test, and preparing for it is about as enjoyable
as passing a kidney stone. It's full of logician's games and archaic text and
advanced analytical reasoning that will bore you as much as it will confound
you. I hated that test, but who was I to argue with God? For
several months, I sacrificed my Saturdays (which are an extremely valuable
commodity for first year teachers) and spent them at the local library with my
nose in LSAT prep books. I even took a Kaplan LSAT Prep Course that virutally guaranteed an improved score of 8-10 points. 8-10 points? I thought. Heck, alls I need is ONE. I smiled from ear to ear. All I needed was one measly point.
Nine or ten points and I'd be ready to apply to Harvard or Notre Dame.
Well, I got that point I was hoping for. Trouble is, I got it in the wrong direction. As in, my score dropped - not gained - a point. It wasn't a dramatic drop obviously, but it was just enough to rattle my cage and make me look like a complete jackass. Lousy Kaplan. I had never been so crushed. I had done everything right. I had heeded the Lord's counsel. I had put in the hours. I had gone the extra mile in every conceivable way. I had fallen asleep at my desk too many nights to count, slaving for a test that did nothing more than slap me in the face.
Wounded
but undeterred, I began again the long and arduous process of applying
to law school. Of course, UNC and the University of Utah were again at the top
of my list, but they could only find room for me on their waitlists. The U of U
waitlisting was extremely disheartening, seeing as two years earlier, they had
accepted me outright. Now, after joining one of the most elite social
justice programs in the country (TFA), I suddenly didn't make the cut. Lousy LSAT.
Months
passed and nothing changed, so I did what every smart person does: I found a
backup plan. Well, actually, it kind of
found me. The Northeast Leadership
Academy at N.C. State University was a specialized leadership cohort designed
to prepare teachers to become school leaders.
When I was first exposed to the program, I thought it intriguing, and
thought it a good Plan B. Funny, I
thought the same thing about Teach For America when I first heard about
it. And sure enough, by the end of April
2011, I wasn’t going to law school again.
And sure enough, a week later, the University of Utah called to invite
me to join their class of 2014. As for UNC, I never moved off their waitlist.Two pitches, two strikes. UNC didn’t look to be in my cards.
My two years at N.C. State have been fantastic, and while there it became undeniably self-evident that I was meant to become a school leader, not a lawyer. I don’t regret the path I chose for even a minute. In becoming a school leader, I discovered my “calling”, or at least a good portion of it. And it was during my time at N.C. State that I also came to the conclusion that now that I was on the school leadership path and intended to stay there for the remainder of my career, that I should get my doctorate. I'm already tired of being an AP, and even though I yearn to be a principal, I’m sure my ambition and natural instinct to lead will soon take me out of the school building altogether and put me into the Central Office or on a college campus.
I applied
to the University of North Carolina in March 2013, and by the beginning of
April, I was informed that I had been accepted into their educational
leadership doctoral program. I cranked
that 3rd pitch out of the park, and I couldn’t be happier to become a true
Tar Heel after playing the part of a wannabe for so long.
It took me months to forgive God for my second LSAT debacle. I was so mad at Him for sending me such a strong signal, then have the whole thing blow up in my face like it did. Only it didn't - I just thought it did, because I was still trying to be a lawyer, and dropping a point didn't fit into my lawyerly future. I've thought about it time and time again, and I realized that if it hadn't have been for that one point, I never would have joined NELA. I never would have become a principal. I never would have stayed in education, which is clearly what I was meant to do. Had my score gone up - even just a point - I'd have gone to Carolina Law. Had I not taken it again and just stuck with my original score, I'd be at the U of U, who wanted me until they saw my score drop and second-guessed themselves. I didn't know it then, but that single point deduction may have been one of the greatest gifts God ever gave me.
Hark the Sound.
