One way I plan to give back to others is to donate my time to help tutor students for free after hours. This is something my high school offered that certain teachers would sign up for and I always found it admirable. I would love to do this as well for students if the future school I work at allows me to do so. I’m very skilled in social studies and english, so I would be able to help in an array of specialties that students may need help with. I would likely stay over time, two days a week to tutor students who need it, maybe more depending on my future schedules, no one knows what life may bring. While it’s not a monetary way of giving back to others, I do think it would be a big help to some students. I often was never close to any of my teachers. I was a very shy kid and teachers often never noticed me, and even counted me absent when I was present in class. I always felt overlooked, uncared for, and just ignored. That is until I met Mrs. Terhaar-Lyon, or Mrs. T. She was my PCC teacher in freshman year, and while I struggled often, Mrs. T never gave up on me. She always tried her best to make me feel included and to get me to open up. Mrs. T was the only one who ever reached out. I then went on to take the fashion classes, which she taught. She continued to bring me out of my shell and truly inspired me to want to become a teacher. I hope to bring the same energy into my teaching career. I want all students to feel included and encouraged to interact in the class, to make friends, and to be more extroverted. I feel if students feel more comfortable, included, and wanted in a space, they are more willing to put themselves into the learning environment. I find they are more interested in learning than classes where it’s strictly textbook, by the standards, and outright robotic! I feel if I include my students, talk to them, and leave no one behind, they will be more willing to explore my passion of learning, and hopefully they will feel the same. I think every teacher should try to build relationships like these with students, because when a student feels connected to the educator, they will listen to the lesson.

I honestly always had a hard time sitting and reading books. It took an uber interesting book to make me really feel immersed, and I hadn’t had that experience since reading the Geronimo Stilton books back in elementary school! Being on Tiktok though, I’ve seen countless booktok videos on my FYP that have made me reconsider my views on reading. It started with the book Icebreaker by Hannah Grace. I wasn’t always one for juvenile romance novels, as my books of choice in high school and middle school were historical fictions, but I have to say this one pulled me in so much. Reading about the back and forth of Anastasia and Nate, an ice skater and a hockey player, both drastic opposite ends of ice skating related sports. The constant twists and turns and enemies to lovers really enticed me and brought me back to a love of reading. Since then I have bought Hannah Grace’s second book in the same series, called Wildfire, which I am about halfway through and loving! I also went on to read more booktok books such as Twisted Love, Haunting Adeline, and I recently bought A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR). I’ve also went on to now indulge even more books that aren’t too popular on booktok. I’ve found a huge love for society critiques/philisophical books. I have read Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche, and thoroughly enjoyed the novel, especially as a history nerd. I also really enjoyed the poetic ways in which it was written. I have two more books of the same nature I am starting to read that are definitely on my booktok bookshelf. These books would be The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath, and Lolita by Vladimir Nobkov. I love a piece that critiques the harsh aspects of our society that others often find too taboo to talk about, even when it is to criticize! That’s why I have a real appreciation for Lolita, a book meant to make you feel ill, written from a perverted perspective of a pedophilic man. People are often afraid to bring up the subject of this, and so many believe this book glorifies pedophilia (as the movies kind of do). But when reading the book you truly do feel sick to the stomach and it shows you just how awful some people in our society can truly be, and how we’ve almost, normalized, this. In a gist, I’ve read SO much more in the past year! Reading so many different genres has really opened me up to a whole new world. I’ve read romance, fantasy, philosophy, and so much more! If I had to pick some books for my bookshelf, I would pick these; Icebreaker and Wildfire by Hannah Grace, Haunting Adeline by H. D. Carlton, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath, and lastly Twisted Love by Ana Huang. These books have been my favorite reads so far, and I cannot wait to explore the literary world more.