Donna Eason's first semester journey on her path to a doctorate.

1. STAR TREK 700: IN SEARCH
OF A DOCTORATE
BY DONNA EASON

2. This journey began with
a group of 12 women
who had some things in
common, but were all
from different
experiences in the
educational world.
Nevertheless, they were
all the “right people on
the bus” (Collins, 2005).

3. They all desired to be more than
what they were – they wanted to
be true innovators in the field of
education. They wanted to make
their communities better places.
In other words, they wanted to
use the skills, talent, passion, and
knowledge to make America
great (Friedman & Mandelbaum,
2012).

4. Donna, one of these chosen, wonderful women, first tried to figure out
how she fit in. She knew that, in one way, she was the “geek” of the
group. But she realized very quickly that this group was very collaborative
in nature; the cohort did not have difficulty in working together toward
common goals, and they were even able to evaluate each other in ways to
improve themselves (Gruenert & Whitaker, 2015).

5. Donna loved reading the first text, Mindset!, especially the section that stated
that she didn’t always have to be right. Just that concept seemed to take a
burden away from her. Also, while reading this text, she realized a lot of the ways
her current school was doing a lot right, such as recognizing the risks teachers
took to be innovative and rewarding them (Naisbitt, 2006).

6. The Images of Organization was a
challenging text, and at several
moments, she found herself
glossing over the information rather
than actively reading. But the
exercises for each chapter helped
her focus and really gain
understanding. She particularly
related to the Brain and Organism
metaphors, and she saw these in
her current employment as well as
her interactions with her cohort
(Morgan, 2006).

7. But ultimately, it was the Creating
Innovators presentation with Kendra and
Lisa that really made her feel like she had
found the right fit in the program. She
enjoyed her Zoom sessions with her
collaborators, and she felt like they had
produced some graduate-level, quality
work.

8. Just as she was flying high, however, the OA, CNA,
and CFEP threatened death and destruction to her
confidence. But with the help of her wonderful
professor and her cohort friends, she FINALLY
accomplished this goal too.

9. SO, WHAT DID DONNA LEARN ALONG THIS JOURNEY?
• That data collection and analysis may suck, but it is imperative to
understanding the workings of your school and how to improve upon its
current condition.
• That an OA, CNA, and CFEP really help you understand how to explain yourself
and back up your claims with research.
• That finding dissertation articles is a lot of fun when you are passionate about
your topic.
• That you can’t do anything in this world worth its salt by yourself.
• That is she very blessed to have the cohort and teachers that she has.

10. We did it! One semester
down, five more to go!

11. References
Collins, J. (2005). Good to great and the social sectors Jim Collins.
Friedman, T. L., & Mandelbaum, M. (2012). That used to be us : How america fell behind in
the world it invented and how we can come back / thomas L. friedman and michael
mandelbaum (Reprint ed.) Picador.
Gruenert, S., & Whitaker, T. (2015). School culture rewired : How to define, assess, and
transform it. Alexandria: ASCD. Retrieved from http://replace-me/ebraryid=11018374
Morgan, G. (2006). Images of organization (Updated ed. ed.). Thousand Oaks [u.a.]: Sage
Publications.
Naisbitt, J. (2006). Mindset! eleven ways to change the way you see--and create--the
future. New York, NY: HarperCollins.