![\"Graduation](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Graduation-Cap_blue-500x500-e1586882554282.png\")
<\/a>CELEBRATING SUCCESS:<\/strong>\u00a0UToledo recognizes the Class of 2022 with a series of stories featuring students receiving their degrees at\u00a0fall commencement<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n In a quick attempt to find a new career path, he switched into the Judith Herb College of Education, and now he\u2019s set to walk across the stage Saturday with a bachelor\u2019s degree in early childhood education.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was honestly a shot in the dark,\u201d Grilliot said. \u201cThere were many signs in my mind that I should be a teacher, but I didn\u2019t know for sure. I heard students would be put in the classroom really quickly, so I would know pretty soon if teaching wasn\u2019t for me.\u201d<\/p>\n His college experience immediately turned around with the literal course change; Grilliot said he couldn\u2019t get enough of the classroom. It also provided the opportunity for both self-reflection and appreciation of his grandfather and the inspiration he provided.<\/p>\n \u201cI realized his lessons had a silent impact on me as a child and teenager,\u201d Grilliot said. \u201cNo matter what conversation we were having, he always ended up giving us something to learn from at the end of it. A lot of these life lessons guided me to be a good person.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter realizing this in college, it gave me the desire to teach others in the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n Three semesters into his teaching journey, Grilliot stumbled upon a work-study opportunity called the TaLK (Teach and Learn in Korea) program. Although it has since been shut down, it was created by the Korean Education Department to give students in rural communities in Korea the opportunity to learn English from a native English speaker.<\/p>\n \u201cI began to self-study Korean and I fell in love with it,\u201d Grilliot said. \u201cI looked into the food, culture and way of life there and wanted to experience living there for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n He applied in the fall of 2019 and after a series of interviews, he received a letter of acceptance, put his college experience on hold and moved to Korea for a year and a half.<\/p>\n Grilliot<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cIt was so impactful to my life and my view of the world,\u201d Grilliot said. \u201cI was placed in a city named Buan. The school where I taught at that time had a whopping 30 students across grades 1 through 6. I was given a rural, real experience in Korea and it was fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n Grilliot said that he learned a great deal about teaching globally and was able to take what he learned into the classroom in Toledo.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom my field experiences, one thing I have learned is that rapport really matters,\u201d Grilliot said. \u201cStudents will always remember a teacher they connected with, and they always learn the most from those teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n Reflecting on his own experiences in elementary school, Grilliot said he wishes to be the role model he wanted growing up.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I started studying at the College of Education, I realized I only had a couple of teachers who really stuck with me in elementary school,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are a lot of male students who grow up and don\u2019t have this male figure in their daily school lives until middle or even high school.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Rhonda Aguiton, an assistant lecturer in the Judith Herb College of Education, said that Grilliot brought enthusiasm and insight to the classroom.<\/p>\n \u201cMitchell came into my courses with an eye into looking at the education system, not just locally but from a global perspective,\u201d Aguiton said. \u201cHis discussions and thoughts were insightful, and his willingness to share his experiences with his classmates were always teachable moments that were inspiring to the students as well as myself.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited to see the teacher that he will evolve into as he teaches a variety of international curricula.\u201d<\/p>\n Following graduation, Grilliot is set to move back to Korea, where he will begin a classroom teacher position at a private international school in mid-February.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like my time there was rather short, especially due to COVID,\u201d Grilliot said. \u201cFrom January to June 2020 I didn\u2019t see my students at all. I want more of the experience that got cut short.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mitch Grilliot graduates Dec. 17 with a bachelor\u2019s degree in early childhood education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":891,"featured_media":77198,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,69,356,53,1,71,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77196"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/891"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77196"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77200,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77196\/revisions\/77200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a>