Hi All,
My name is Darah Ilima Markley. I moved here almost 2 years ago from Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina to be closer to my brother and dad. I'm the youngest of six children. Growing up, my family lived on a horse farm in Northern Virginia in a small town called Leesburg. There I attended Luckett's Elementary from Kindergarten through 5th grade. Luckett's was a very small school consisting of all about 50 or so students. I then went to private school called Loudoun Country Day School for my first year of middle school. After 6th grade my family then moved to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. I attended another private school, Cape Fear Academy, for 7th and 8th grade. From there, I went to E.A. Laney for high school, it's the same school Michael Jordan went to! I played soccer my whole life and was fortunate enough to receive a athletic scholarship to East Carolina University. After a year at ECU, I transferred to University of North Carolina at Wilmington and received my BA in Parks and Recreation. I am currently working for the California State Parks. My interests include anything outdoors, camping, hiking, biking, photography, and I still play soccer on a couple leagues around San Diego.
My first experiences with technology started in elementary school. In class we occasionally played a computer game named Oregon Trail. I was instantly hooked to the game. My family from as far back as I can remember always had a computer. The first one being an Apple. My dad and my 3 brothers are all very proficient with computers. My brother who lives in Redmond, Washington has a patent on Excel. My oldest brother, who lives in Berkley, California, was the orginal programmer then became the chief software architect of the library automation company, Innovative Interfaces, Inc. Innovative Interfaces is the world's largest supplier of computer systems to libraries. My dad sells, SoftPlan (http://www.softplan.com/), an architectural software and my brother who also lives locally, works as the account manager for, Apricorn (http://www.apricorn.com/), a computer company located in Poway. You could say I have plenty of technical support if needed. I have owned a PC for over 10 years and use the Internet daily. I recently just bought my first lap top. I have an Mp3 player but I am having a hard time figuring out how to find music to download. At work I use computers, mostly on programs such as Excel and Microsoft Publisher. I have never used a Mac before until last week. I look forward to learning more about Macs through this class.
CSUSM's College of Education Mission Statement did not play a big factor in my decision to apply to CSUSM. The College of Education's reputation among my friends who are local teachers played a huge part in my decision. The commitment to Educational Equity speaks to me the most. As a young student, who had a learning disability, ADHD, school wasn't always pleasant. My third grade teacher told my parents that I would never succeed and that they should enter me into a 'Special' school. She treated me differently than the other students, I remember most of my time was spent in the hallway. My desire to learn was diminished. Thankfully, through more research and greater knowledge of ADHD, teachers later on in my path of education were able to understand and helped me not feel ashamed or embarrassed of my disability. Without Educational Equity, students will not be able overcome their own barriers that prevent them from achieving success in school.
