"Mathematics makes me happy." - nobody ever I'm a current Mathematics Education major at Western Governors University (an online college). I truly thought that I would never be able to say that. I'm approximately 75% through my bachelors degree and I'm nearly 30 years old. I spent most of my childhood daydreaming in classrooms simply hoping and dreaming of the day that I would be able to see what all the grown ups are doing. Much to my dismay, and my mothers', my first step out of the "nest" was less of a step and more of a tumble. I spent years moving from quick paced kitchen job to quick paced kitchen job until I finally accidentally fell into teaching. I suddenly realized that I have been teaching for my entire life. All of the weird memory tricks I had acquired to get through school could now be used to help someone else's life. All of the odd feelings about numbers turned into number sense. I was finally able to ACTUALLY RELAX....with one caveat, the pay was terrible. I was working longer hours, staying focused for longer and learning more than I ever did in school and this was all in a Montessori Preschool classroom. I soon realized that in order to stay in the profession I love I had to go to college. I took class after class at a large university known for creating the nations best teachers and I quickly fell to the bottom of my class because I was daydreaming about how music relates to math and how you might be able to calculate the size of the shadows in Renaissance paintings. I dropped out of college, I started working at an afterschool program that finally paid $26 an hour to work part time. I was able to keep a roof above my head, hang out with kids and finally I was able to pay for housing and think without worrying about money. Unfortunately the program had to close because the owner got cancer. THEN I was put in a position where I had to pick up all of my things and move states using only a two seated car and a rented 7 seated minivan because I couldn't afford rent. I say all this to say that I have wanted these scholarships as badly as you do. I believe that all students can learn (even older ones). I believe that I can make a difference and I believe you can too. I know the prompt I was responding to says it's for "high school students" but I dream of a time when each individual is able to stand up for themselves and do their very best.

When I was an elementary school student back in the 90’s I was a kooky high energy kid that would never stop talking and at that time it wasn’t cool to be different. Very early on in my education I was diagnosed with ADHD and because there wasn’t much research on how to teach students that learn differently, I was moved into the special education classroom. Needless to say my peers did not respond well to that and I was often bullied for being different. It also didn’t help that I had curly hair, wore glasses, and only dressed in hand-me-downs from my cousins but some things just can’t be helped. In my special education classes lessons were often taught to the lowest leveled learner in the room so that the least accommodations had to be made and there was very little patience when it came to hyperactivity (I’ve found great joy in all of the new fidgets that are available to kids now). I quickly became bored in this environment and by the time I was in middle school my grades were terrible and I was beginning to get myself into trouble. I was friends with troubled students who often got in trouble with the law. Much to my mother’s horror I began to skip classes. My relationship with my family was suffering and I was miserable going to school each day. I continued down this path until 8th grade when I finally decided to try to be a better person and to do well in school and it was all thanks to a single math teacher. This math teacher was more than just a mentor, she was a friend. She saw herself in me and knew that I was a smart kid that was simply misunderstood. She kept me after school twice a week to catch me up on all of the math I had missed as an elementary school student. She was shocked to find that even though I had a solid base of number theory, none of my teachers had taken the time to teach me how to multiply 2 digit numbers (a 2nd grade requirement in my state). She taught me loads about math but the most important thing she taught me was to stand up for myself. She knew that by showing me compassion and understanding that I would learn to have compassion and understanding for myself. I have come a long way since then but I have always tried to see the best in people and to try not to judge people or their situations. Because of this experience I have dedicated myself to becoming a Secondary Mathematics teacher specializing in middle school special education. Whenever I tell people this they tell me what a “patient saint” I must be but I tell them that I just treat my students the way that I wished to be treated when I was their age. This scholarship would be the next needed step in my journey to become the best educator I can be. I have been working in educational settings for the past 10 years and I am finally at a place in my life where I am ready to focus on school again. This scholarship could be the difference between calm focus on my classes and frantic studying late at night while worrying about work. I'm extremely excited to be able to focus on myself in this coming school year and I hope I can do it with the financial support I desperately need.

Kindless and Understanding, Pass it on I am a strong believer in the importance of mentorship on students of all ages. I’m sure most of these essays begin with a similar quote but without community mentorship and opportunities to mentor others I wouldn’t have been given the opportunity to be where I am today. I will start by introducing my past and then move on to how I hope to mentor others in the future. When I was an elementary school student back in the 90’s I was a kooky high energy kid that would never stop talking and at that time it wasn’t cool to be different. Very early on in my education I was diagnosed with ADHD and because there wasn’t much research on how to teach students that learn differently, I was moved into the special education classroom. Needless to say my peers did not respond well to that and I was often bullied for being different. It also didn’t help that I had curly hair, wore glasses, and only dressed in hand-me-downs from my cousins but some things just can’t be helped. In my special education classes lessons were often taught to the lowest leveled learner in the room so that the least accommodations had to be made and there was very little patience when it came to hyperactivity (I’ve found great joy in all of the new fidgest that are available to kids now). I quickly became bored in this environment and by the time I was in middle school my grades were terrible and I was beginning to get myself into trouble. I was friends with troubled students who often got in trouble with the law. Much to my mother’s horror I began to skip classes. My relationship with my family was suffering and I was miserable going to school each day. I continued down this path until 8th grade when I finally decided to try to be a better person and to do well in school and it was all thanks to a single math teacher. This math teacher was more than just a mentor, she was a friend. She saw herself in me and knew that I was a smart kid that was simply misunderstood. She kept me after school twice a week to catch me up on all of the math I had missed as an elementary school student. She was shocked to find that even though I had a solid base of number theory, none of my teachers had taken the time to teach me how to multiply 2 digit numbers (a 2nd grade requirement in my state). She taught me loads about math but the most important thing she taught me was to stand up for myself. She knew that by showing me compassion and understanding that I would learn to have compassion and understanding for myself. I have come a long way since then but I have always tried to see the best in people and to try not to judge people or their situations. Because of this experience I have dedicated myself to becoming a Secondary Mathematics teacher specializing in middle school special education. Whenever I tell people this they tell me what a “patient saint” I must be but I tell them that I just treat my students the way that I wished to be treated when I was their age.