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[Music] Hello Blue Jays and welcome to the nest stories about life after Manor College. I am your host Kelly Peiffer vice president of marketing communications and this is the best part of my day. My hope is that this podcast will encourage, inform, and inspire you, making you feel like at Manor College you belong here always. Before we get to today's guest, it is time for a segment of the show I like to call Did You Know? Where we will share some fun facts about Manor College that you may or may not

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know. So, did you know that Manor College is currently enrolling students for our fall semester? And we're offering a program called the You Belong Here Advantage. Now, this program was designed to help students launch into college without the usual headaches and worries that might come with starting into a college experience. So, when students enroll as a new full-time first time student, they get some free really great, incredible perks at no extra cost. One, they get a free laptop filled with Microsoft Office 365 ready

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to roll. They get free textbooks for all of their courses. There's a few exceptions for some of our allied health programs, but for the most part, if you're a student at Manor College, you're not going to have to pay for textbooks. They also get free four meals a week at our dining hall. So they get a meal plan that students can use for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Up to four free meals a week in our dining hall. And the last benefit they get with this you belong here advantage is they get to utilize tuition free summer classes for

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the following summer. So students can take summer classes in the summer of 2026 to kind of keep their college degree moving, get caught up on maybe classes they need to, and still not lose any time and really at and really a very minimal tuition free cost. This is a great benefit. I'm really encouraging people to check it out. It's called the You Belong Here Advantage. You can go to manor.edu edu and look under our admissions area and you can learn more about it and get your application started today. Today's episode is

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sponsored by Manor College's School of Continuing Education. Elevate your career with a professional development certificate from Manor College. Boost your skills in business, cyber crime, child development, or leadership. Affordable, flexible, and designed for working professionals. Certificates can be completed in as little as 9 months. Learn more at manner.edu. edu/certificates and advance your future. Today we have a truly special guest today. We are thrilled to welcome a dedicated educator making a real difference in our

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community. Coming from Philadelphia, attending Agora Cyber Charter School, then going to earn her associates degree in liberal arts from Manor College in 2016. From there, she continued her academic journey earning a dual degree in special education K through2 and general education from Western Governor's University. Today she is shaping young minds at Cherry Hill public schools, specifically at the Malberg preschool. She also serves as a school's representative for access and opportunity. Please give a warm welcome

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to Mariah Carol. Hi Mariah, thanks for joining us today. Hi, thanks for having me. So can you start us off by sharing how did you hear about Manor College and what made you decide to attend Manor? Well, I was homeschooled growing up and I wanted a nice transition into college life. Manor seemed like a nice cute quaint little school family community. I thought that it would be like a good transitioning step for me. That's great. I've never heard anyone describe Manor as cute. So, I really love that. Um,

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personally, I think that I think it I think it's cute. I think it's cute. I think it's cute. Sure. Cute, quaint. But right, that transitional that foundation before you were going to go other places and do other things and back when you attended it was before we launched our bachelor degrees. So most of our students, they either got a career right away or they transferred to get more education. So that's really important, I think, to note there that we didn't offer bachelor degrees um back in 2016.

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So you're an OG according to, you know, us. That's pretty neat. Um, so kind of what was your Manor experience like? Were you involved in any activities? And kind of what did you think of your classes? Um, I wasn't really involved in any activities. Um, again, I was kind of just getting my feet wet with being out of the house and doing my education. Um, my classes were great. Uh, being a liberal arts major, I took so many different types of classes which helped me narrow down exactly what I wanted to

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do. I met great people, great professors. Um, Professor Small Arts has been I mean to this day my favorite professor. He just gave me a love for learning and when he taught it was as if he was telling a story. So it didn't feel like I was in class. It felt like I was like listening to a podcast or watching a movie. And I love that. Yeah. Um Dr. Smalars, he was a history professor. Um who's now at a different institution and we wish him nothing but the best and he telling a story is a good really good description

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for how he taught. It was definitely he is so knowledgeable about so many historical things particularly like Philadelphia history. Um he actually wrote a book for Manor um a number of years ago maybe know it was around our 75th anniversary which was back in 2021 and um he wrote like our Manor College history book um like one of those like historical books that you see in like you know Walgreens and about like different towns. He wrote one about Manor. Um, and it was really cool to kind of watch him go through this

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process of learning about the sisters and and Manor and kind of our our really like hyper local area. That's great. And I I think it's great that you talked about how like being a liberal arts student gave you a little taste of lots of different things so you could kind of narrow in on what you like. Um, so when know you were here for two years and then you decided to transfer. What were your next steps and what was kind of your next plan after transferring? Um, my next plan was to really figure

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out what it was I wanted to do with my liberal arts, what direction I wanted to go in indefinitely. Um, ultimately I decided nursing and I applied and I was accepted into Um, however, I had an experience there um with racism that kind of changed my career paths. Um, meeting with my advisor, I explained to her the importance of me wanting to become a nurse and that was the major that I wanted to do. And she looked at me and said, "People like you have a hard time in the sciences." And um I kind of just stood there for a

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minute, you know, just to make sure I was hearing her correctly. And I said, "What do you mean by that?" And then she shows a picture. She pulls up a picture on the computer of this black man and say, "People that look like you two have a hard time with the sciences." So at that point, I kind of just like got up and left. Um, it was really sad that I had to experience that because I never had the best experience with teachers or school or education in general. So that was just like another kind of like fuel

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to the fire which ultimately helped me shape my I it helped me shape who I wanted to be in the future and it helped me realize who I didn't want to be and I wanted to be someone who inspired people and gave them a love for learning and a place of safety and fulfillment other than maybe breaking someone down and making them feel sad about themselves. So that's basically how I got into education. Um again, like I've never had the best experience with education, teachers, bullying, with just anything. and the Westchester thing kind

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of just added fuel to the fire and I knew exactly what kind of educator I didn't want to be. Wow. I'm so sorry you had that experience. Um it's just hard to really understand where that advisor was coming from and like just it's so wrong on so many levels. We all know that. Um, but I think it says so much about you and your character in that like you took that situation to say like, okay, this is actually what my passion is. I need to become an educator. I need to help others feel not this way, you know, and

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change change this narrative because frankly it's not true and I'm going to be part of the solution. Um, absolutely. And I mean that was that's incredible that you were able to kind of like pick yourself up and let's get on this path to becoming an educator. Um and I mean you you've become an educator. You're working at as a preschool teacher. Um and I I saw that you got an award a best of exceptional educators from South Jersey magazine. I mean so not only have you become an educator, you've become an exceptional

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educator that's getting awards in magazines. What does that what does that mean to you to have that kind of recognition particularly this early in your career too? It means the world to me. Like I am so honored to have gotten that award. Um it makes me feel seen. It makes me feel heard. It makes me um I know this is going to be cut. Sorry. Yeah. I'm like stumbling on my words. It's fine. You're good. Um, I'm looking for the word that I want to say. It makes me feel seen. It makes me feel

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heard. Um, and it definitely makes me happy that I chose to be an educator, right? It just it like gives you that reassurance that like, oh yeah, I picked the right thing. I did the right thing. I decided to do preschool because like with school you start young with if you like education or not. Yeah. So my whole thing was if I can get kids to love education and going to school and learning at an early age that will be the foundation for their learning moving forward. Absolutely. Absolutely. Um,

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just as like a personal note, you know, I have I have three small children, 6, four, and one. So, I'm very much into the preschool age. My oldest is just finished kindergarten. My middle is going she's been in little preschool. She's going to like real preschool next year. And my one-year-old is just she's just one. She's just having fun. But like, I fully as a parent see so much value in like elementary educators, particularly preschool educators. I mean, it is it is hard because you're trying to teach them like school stuff.

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You're also trying to like teach them social skills, personal space, bottle body things, you know, about your own body and going to the bathroom and tying your shoes and, you know, like blowing your nose. Like, it's not just teaching curriculum. It is a holistic. It is everything. 100%. So, thank you so much for what you're doing. Oh, absolutely. I mean, I get exhausted at the end of the day, but that's okay. I fully understand that 100%. Um, but that that is so cool that you are able to kind of like see

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your own like educational journey and now kind of like almost like a full circle moment like being able to do this as a career. Feel like a full circle. Yeah, that's beautiful. Um so Mariah as we kind of like wrap up our time together, what advice would you give to like current Manor students who are um you know taking classes and you know being a college student is challenging and you might have moments where you're doubting yourself and those kind of things. What advice would you give them to encourage them?

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Um my advice would be to just go with it. Honestly, if you mess up, you mess up. You learn from the experience. If you decide that whatever you're majoring in, you don't want to do. You still have time. You're really young. Um, do what you want. Follow your heart. Don't do something that you think is going to make you a lot of money. Even though money is important, but do something that you'll love to do because if you love to do it, you're not really going to work. Right. Right. Keep going. Do what you love to do. It's simple, but

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it's tried and true. True. Yeah. Oh, that's great. And then kind of I I like asking this question, too. What's like um a misconception or a myth about teachers that you want to kind of like debunk? I like asking this question. Oh my gosh. That we get the whole summer off and yeah, that that whole thing. We earned that summer off and it's not even the whole summer if you do summer school, which I'm starting next week. So, yes. Oh my goodness. Yes. Yes. So, like it takes a while for us to kind of like get back into that teaching

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mode for September. Like we need that summer to get our minds right. Right. Right. That is such a that is such a good one. Summer's off really isn't summers off and it is well deserved. I love that so much. 100%. Oh, well that's great. Well, Mariah, thank you so much for being with us today. It has truly been a joy talking to you, hearing your story, and I always like to share with alumni who particularly I feel like are really living out the Manor mission. In in our mission, we talk about, you

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know, our goal is to prepare students to graduate to serve society effectively and compassionately and and it's I mean, everything that you're doing is hitting that to a tea. So, thank you so much for just really embodying the Manor College mission and going out there and preparing others to be good human beings and to like, you know, just the world needs that. Philadelphia needs that. New Jersey needs that. So, I'm just so grateful that you're doing that. Um, and you're doing it exceptionally

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well. So, we're so proud of you and wishing you nothing but the best. Thank you so much. Thank you for tuning in today. If you like what you heard, listen and subscribe on Spotify or YouTube and stay up to date with all new episodes by following Manor College on Instagram at Manor College. And that's a wrap on another episode of The Nest, stories about life after Manor College. Remember, Blue Jays, you belong here always. [Music]