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The ideas of autonomy, mastery and purpose definitely resonate with me as primary motivators for all my education. I love to learn for the sake of self-improvement. I think that all knowledge is good knowledge and necessary for broadening one’s perspective. Broadening my perspective is definitely a major reason why I’m pursuing this degree in Seattle and not somewhere closer to home. I thought that staying in the same city would limit the people I interacted with and constrict my knowledge to only that which was relevant to the people around me. By moving across the country, my beliefs are being challenged on a daily basis and that is how I am learning. All the things I took for granted as truths are challenged in a way that I have to reconstruct my thought process and make meaning of all this new information.

The things that make me most passionate about learning are really the smallest details and intricacies of a subject. As a STEM major, I absolutely adored biophysics and how the body functions not just on a molecular level but even a subatomic level. There is always more to know and with enough effort, an explanation can be found. This is my infatuation with education as well. There is always more to know and always more to teach. Additionally, it is the finer details that make the largest impacts on our students. Whether it is telling a humanizing story, making a funny joke, or rephrasing a question, it is those small moments that make students have those epiphanic gasps of learning. And at the biophysical level, we’re connecting neurons that haven’t communicated before and building an entirely new infrastructure of neurocircuitry. I find the whole experience so fascinating.

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I am motivated to get this degree for multiple reasons. I have been in the events industry for the past 5 years, and although I have learned and grown a lot in my professional identity, it is not something I am passionate about anymore. I started out doing event planning as an undergraduate student on the activities board, and thought that what I truly loved about that was the event planning aspect. I found when I left my undergrad institution that without the community engagement and student development aspects of event planning, that I was bored. Coming from a conservative family as well, and an area that was on the conservative end, I was no longer as engaged with learning about issues of social justice or in a community that wanted to learn anything about it. There seemed to be to be much more important work to be done than up-selling catering for a wedding or corporate event.

I am pursuing my degree to be able to move into the student development realm. I recognize how much growth is possible in college students, and I hope to be a practitioner that can help foster that growth. I am also doing it for the sake of my own learning. SU's commitment to social justice is not something that is easily found in the Midwest, where I'm from, so many of the concepts I am learning are new to me. I want to become more culturally competent. I ultimately want to be doing something that is working toward a higher purpose, like increasing global engagement among college students to help tear down prejudices between cultures and promote understanding.

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I feel motivated to learn because it directly corresponds with my job. Although I need this degree to progress in my job, I am more motivated by the fact that what I learn makes me a better teacher. I am most excited when I learn practical information that I can implement in my classes and lesson planning. When I have courses that do not directly relate to my teaching, it is more difficult for me to feel motivated. As a student, I have always been motivated by grades. Beyond that, my personality drives me to do my best in my classes, even when the subject matter is not appealing to me. If I know I can do better on an assignment, I will go back and make it the best possible so I can take pride in my work. To be honest, I am also motivated by the fact that I will (hopefully) graduate soon. It's been difficult readjusting to the life of a student this quarter, but I want to make the most of this opportunity to learn and make new connections.

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I've always been the kind of person that likes to learn "for the sake of learning." As an undergraduate, I graduated with three minors (and two majors) because I'd take a class and think, "This is fun. Let's do more of that." To a certain extent, I still do that (as evidenced by the fact that I'm taking Education courses as I wrap up my degree in public administration).

Just being able to know how to do things can be important. With something like education, knowing more about how people learn seems important. This isn't particular to a specific career goal, but more to life (in general). Knowing how people learn influences a lot of the things I do. So, in a lot of cases, just having new skill sets is a big motivator.

As I learn more things, I start to see more connections between seemingly disparate topics. Often, I find that something I learn in a new course relates to something I learned in a previous program. Mathematics, engineering, law, public administration, and education have connections and associations people don't otherwise think about. Being able to see those connections is important and probably drives me to pursue further education and learning.

Career or professional advancement is of value, but I've probably reached the point where additional graduate studies actually become detrimental to that endeavor. Rarely do employers get excited about the person with six degrees....

I always joke that I pursue graduate degrees so I can have more expansive strings of letters after my name in email correspondence. That's mostly a joke, although I don't deny I've investigated strange degree programs that have peculiar abbreviations.

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I chose to begin and pursue my Masters degree because I wanted a new challenge. The more extrinsic motivators like the degree itself or the supplementation of what I've gained in work experience with more academic knowledge are less important to me than the intrinsic motivator of, (as Andrew points out), self-improvement. To me, modeling the lifestyles of the people I work with and around has been the best way to understand them and, subsequently, to understand how to best communicate with them, (teaching and learning included), For my particular field in athletics, many of my coworkers have been through similar programs and can relate to my experience in pursuit of an advanced degree. In regards to the student athletes I work with, it is helpful to know what the full experience of their basketball activities coupled with school feels like on a daily basis. To me, the intrinsic value of the degree is in the curiosity of "walking in another's shoes" to seek understanding. It is in this pursuit of personal growth that I get the most excited about and find it easiest to commit to learning more.

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I am motivated to pursue my Masters with the present and the future in mind. First and foremost, I want to be able to improve my current practice; I have ended up teaching adults in a roundabout way and recognize that to do my job better, I need to learn both theory and skills to make my classes more successful. Secondly, I want to open up my career opportunities in the future and thirdly, I have a strong desire to help those who are marginalized to improve their education levels where needed to better improve their life chances and those of their children.

I am passionate about teaching parents as I believe that more support in the early years can build strong foundations for the future but at the same time, I feel a strong pull to work with those who need a second chance at education and to empower them to make changes in their own lives.

Lastly, I have 3 children and want to set them the example of working at something worthwhile which may not be easy and to demonstrate / verbalize motivation to them.

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The biggest motivation for my decision to pursue my Masters is for career advancement.  I ultimately want to work as an athletic trainer in Division I intercollegiate athletics, which essentially requires a Masters degree or higher to be considered.  Not far behind is a motivation to continue my own personal education and growth, which I believe is essential for me to grow as a leader in my career field as well as personal maturation and development.  I have always been motivated by self-improvement.  I’ve more recently understood the importance of accepting and learning from failure.  I believe that experience is invaluable, both good and bad ones, and reflecting and learning from these is key to improvement.

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I am pursing my degree in order to open doors in the future - right now I love working as a bedside clinician, but in the future I want the opportunity to return to my former career in Global Health / Maternal Health at a high level. Getting a doctorate now will not change my job today, but will help open doors for me in the future as I step away from 100% clinical work. When I think about what makes me excited about learning, it's the women who I interact with. Pregnancy is a very exciting but sometimes vulnerable time in a woman's life, and it is an honor to be able to share that intimate time with them. I am motivated and excited to learn so that I can be a better resource and support to them. Another source of motivation is my daughter - I want to instill a love for, and appreciation of, education in her, and feel that getting this degree will help reflect those values.

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I am pursuing my degree with two primary intentions: I want to be able to achieve professionally while simultaneously gain skills that could branch out to more fulfilling opportunities. Each supervisor I have had over time has encouraged more autonomy and agency, to the point where I am now working with the knowledge and ability of someone several times my salary, but there is nothing “on paper” that exemplifies my growth as a professional. I hope to change that.

In branching out, I hope to eventually move these newly acquired skills into opportunities to work with public schools. Several schools that I am intimately familiar with exhibited many struggles that I’d like to help alleviate. Their students were primarily from migrant and immigrant families, some refugees, representing over 50 different cultures and spoken languages (some with no known written language)! These schools had little to no teaching or administrative staff of color to reflect the student population. They also registered an exorbitant amount of young students as EBD (emotional behavioral disorder) and assigned them to special needs classrooms. In many cases, the EBD assignments were due to a failure to connect with the student, and a failure to communicate between the teacher and the parents—by language barrier, cultural ignorance, assumptions, and other issues. Many times, students were labeled as difficult rather than speaking with the parents about what behaviors are typically acceptable at home versus what’s acceptable in the classroom. Many times, parents not familiar with “American” culture aren’t yet comfortable approaching teachers to speak on behalf of their children. Many times, parents have experienced so much past negativity from schools that they automatically take a defensive position when contacted by a teacher, rather than feeling a sense of welcome or collaboration. I am motivated by the need of multicultural awareness and open communication, to be an advocate and assist in building bridges in order to prevent mislabeling of students from marginalized populations as special needs; to assist in preventing absenteeism and eventual drop-out rates due to a lack of encouragement and connection, with hopes of changing the educational environment into a welcoming, safe, and inclusive one.

Along-with these intentions, I am also motivated as a lifelong learner and a need to widen my perspective. I am motivated by time, and the need to get my master’s before my eldest starts college on his own. And I am motivated simply by the challenges of the online format of this program. My teenager failed two classes due to difficulties wrapping his mind around the technology. He was unable to track all of the different formats used, regularly missed assignments, and he eventually threw his hands up and watched his grades tumble. The students of my graduate school are also just now encountering hybrid and online courses. By being in a program that is entirely online, I am learning to empathize with students (and faculty) as they struggle with all that comes with online learning.

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I am pursuing my degree for a few reasons but the first that comes to mind is to give students a place to learn in a safe, loving, and exciting environment. I am motivated by the experience that I had myself, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I am motivated by the students I have taught in the last 8 years, I want them to see success through hard work. I am motivated by all of the young children who have a hard time sharing their voice for fear of having the "wrong answer"; I would love for them to understand that when you create the question, you can't have the wrong answer. Finally, I am motivated to support (and change the necessary parts of) the world of education, every time I connect with a child who "doesn't like school" and can give them a moment of enjoyment, I know all of the hard work, blood, sweat, and tears are worth it.

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My motivation to pursue my degree is so that I am able to continue to do the work of changing kids' lives for the better. Honestly, I am most excited about learning when I am hands-on doing the work and learning as I go. My career path thus far hasn't been traditional, and I have been doing a lot of the work I'm pursuing my degree in already. I was motivated to get my degree, however, because I was at the end of the ladder in my old setting and I wanted to be able to affect more students' lives so I am getting my certification to go back into public schools. I have also always been motivated by wanting to be someone who knows how to do things and can help others learn as well. If I am great at what I do and I pass along what I know to others, than the world can be that much better. Ultimately, the #1 motivator are the students. I strive to make school a place where we really see kids individually for who they are and help them to achieve the most they can, and I work hard to make this vision a reality.

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The reason I am most motivated is to be in a better place to adequately educate students in order to close the achievement gap for marginalized populations.  My motivation is my children, I feel they need to know I care enough about their education and success for me to pursue a career that can also benefit them, it is not a huge paycheck but the value is priceless.  I also am motivated to show my children by example the value of being a life long learner.
Another motivation is to be in a position to change the education narrative, as well as being able to give me more freedom in career choices.

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The things that motivate me the most are the achieving goals and acquisition of knowledge. I am pursuing my degree because of these two things. I want to be able to achieve my professional goals and to learn and become an expert in my field in the industry. I think that I have always loved to learn and grow, that is why I loved athletics. I was able to constantly be in an environment of continual growth and learning. I feel passionate about learning and excited to learn because it is an enjoyable experience. Again, my motivation is what drives my excitement to learn because learning helps me achieve my goals and gain more knowledge.

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The reason I'm pursuing my degree is to obtain a more fulfilling career. Currently, I'm an administrative specialist, and I really only assist in kitchen duties and scheduling. It's not very fun.
I'm motivated by learning about a subject that fits my interests and personality. I'm motivated because I know that it will steer me toward the correct career path. I'm particularly motivated because I see a clear path to my goal. Although I won't be making more money, I know I'll be helping people. Lastly, I'm motivated that, at this point in my life, is probably the last time I can afford school, because after this, my husband and I will be looking to buy a house and start a family, which will be a significant financial burden compared to what we have to worry about currently.

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I think I've always been a curious person. For a lot of my childhood I think that curiosity lead my interest in wanting to learn. This has shifted since undergrad and graduate school but it remains a bit similar. What motivates me to learn now is to see and understand the world a bit better. I enjoy seeing and learning about new perspectives. I believe that my education helps with that now. I'm pursing my degree because I knew the education at Seattle U would be well rounded. Honestly, I think not knowing about a subject or being completely new to a topic gets me excited about learning. I also think that learning about things that I already enjoy gets me excited. I also value education very highly, so that is also what motivates me to learn and continue to learn whenever I can.

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What makes me feel passionate and excited about learning is the joy of accomplishing a goal. The idea of being a person that knows about a subject so that it looks so easy to tell someone else about it. The social connectedness of learning together as a group discovering a subject for the first time.  Spending time doing something healthy and good for myself. Having the opportunity be smothered in a new exciting subject and getting lost for hours.