My entire experience as a teenager has been full of awkward, embarrassing moments that make me cringe when I remember them in the middle of the night. I've always heard that this isn't an original experience, everyone remembers embarrassing things they've done as teens, but sometimes when you look around at your peers or your idols you can't imagine they've ever had an embarrassing moment in their entire lives. It makes you feel isolated, envious, and angry. Hence, why I picked the lyric "feels like my skin doesn't fit right over my bones" from the ballad of a homeschooled girl. Adolescence is all about growing up and learning your way through life. Making connections with people that one day we'll call friends, making memories that will last lifetimes, developing our personalities. Unfortunately for us teens, this doesn't just materialize in our lives, half of the time we find ourselves falling into some of the most humiliating experiences. Our parents will tell us that someday it will all be a "funny memory", we say they "don't understand!" and hide away in our rooms, depressed and mortified by ourselves. We feel more and more awkward in ourselves, we want to hide away from the world and say no one could possibly understand us. We wish we could have perfect skin, cooperative hair, more friends, less rumors, less bullies, less eyes on us all the time. We want to be that teenage dream, we want to be our idol, and we want to feel like we belong in our bodies. Sadly that doesn't come for anything less than time, as teens we don't know any better or anything really, although we pretend to. I won't say I've cracked the code, I still have my embarrassing moments that I would do anything to take back. All that I can say is as a teenager about a year away from leaving the teenage age forever, I still haven't grown into myself, I still feel like I don't know who I am, don't know what I want, and still fall into some of the most embarrassing situations. But what I have learned is that you're never truly alone, your friends are always there for you, your parents are always hoping that you'll tell them about your day, your teachers always want you to succeed, and there is always the chance to tear it all down and rebuild it all back up again. But I understand that sometimes life just sucks, sometimes the day is just destined to be bad, sometimes your friends aren't real, sometimes your parents don't understand. In those situations, all you can do is remember life gets better, it's ever-changing, and one day you will feel like you fit into your skin. Always remember, it's everyone's first time living, all we have are experiences, and all we are are moments in a never-ending timeline. One day those embarrassing moments will be nothing but a memory, and you'll always have them. Might even smile and laugh when you look back on them.

I am the youngest child of two teen parents, I struggled through learning and education, and due to my parents having to drop out of school to raise their children, having to sacrifice for their children, and working hard to provide for us all, I and my siblings never got help with our lessons at school. Plus with all the struggles we were having at home which led to the divorce of our parents, we weren't able to focus on our education as much as I wished I had. Due to all the struggles I had to endure, my education was compromised. By the second grade I had just managed to start reading at a kindergarten level, my comprehension skills needed some work, and don't get me started on my nonexistent knowledge surrounding math. Luckily for me, I had a teacher who changed my life, her name was Mrs. Plummer. She was a tough-love kind of teacher that I butted heads with a lot in my little age, however despite my struggles against her, she never gave up on me. She realized how behind I was in my education, and she knew I needed help. Thanks to her I was put into a much-needed reading class to get me up to speed, I was given more time to work with my materials, and I even made friends in the process. Mrs. Plummer was a lifesaver for me, and even to this day, I know she was a giant factor in how far I've gotten today. As I made my way through the rest of my education, I had the confidence to ask for help, I had the time to dedicate myself to other hobbies, I was able to commit to competitive clubs, and to top it off I managed to get all A's all while holding down a job. Now that I'm in my last year of high school I know all my accomplishments are rooted in that one teacher I had, who changed my life for the better. That is where my passion for teaching came from, I've been interested in many careers over the time I've been alive, however, teaching has never once left the focal point of attention, and in the end, it's the one I chose to make my life mission. I want to pursue early education, so that I may walk in the steps of my former teacher by spreading love and support to younger children so that hopefully one day they too will have the opportunity to face the world and change it for the better. My current goal is to get through college so that I may have as much knowledge and experience needed to handle small children, and then go forward to help these small children get equipped with the building blocks they need to continue through life. Once I get stable in my goal, I plan to move my focus outward toward the entire world, so that I may help children everywhere realize their worth.

Throughout my life I've had the opportunity to see and experience many things, some things were beneficial to me while others took another form of beneficial. I've seen what it's like for teen parents, I've experienced what it's like to be the only POC in a classroom, and I've struggled through low-quality education systems. As unfortunate as all these experiences are, they've built me up as a person. Thanks to everything I've been through I have the opportunity to take charge and change the lives of other little girls and boys who are going through what I've been through. My passion is early education, as I believe this is where the most important part of education takes place. At such a young age you're learning what is acceptable, what is good and bad, and building yourself up in all categories from educationally to emotionally. This is a very delicate and influential stage in everyone's life, and it must be cared for and allowed to grow so that person may bloom. I have so many memories from when I was younger, all the things I was struggling with and how they affected my relationships with people and education, i still have some of those effects to this day. So I understand how easy it is for young children to get off track, and this is why I want nothing more than to help children get through this period of their lives and still succeed in education. Hopefully, if I'm successful in this goal, I can continue my dreams of spreading help to all children around the world.

As the daughter of two teen parents I know what it's like to be so behind when it comes to education, my parents had to drop out to take care of me and my siblings, so their educational paths were extremely stunted. Due to my parents working so much to provide for us, my siblings and I fell behind in our studies. None of us were at the level we needed to be, but this is a common case in America today. There are so many different circumstances in which children nowadays can fall into that will drastically affect their youth as well as their opportunity to learn and grow, this can be anything ranging from household issues to disabilities, a new issue prominent in the youth today is the constant technology leading to dependence and issues in the classroom. As someone who fell into this category of struggling youth when I was younger, I can confirm that there is only one thing that helps children like me out of this cycle. That being kind, caring, and quality teachers. There are so many wonderful teachers out there who do their best to help and support their students, courageous men and women who are dedicated to the future generations getting all they need to succeed. Luckily for me, I've had a handful of teachers just like this, they helped me when I was struggling, and helped me when I was behind, and due to their help I've become the person I am today. My experience through my primary and secondary years, with all my struggles as well as with all my teachers has made me passionate about education, these experiences have made me realize my purpose on this planet is to help provide children with a stable environment to grow and learn in, and hopefully, if I'm successful with that plan I can move my focus to children all over the world instead of just in America. Due to my lofty goal, I've been working to make myself one of the best candidates I can be, getting some of the best grades I can, pushing myself to join clubs outside of my comfort zone, and trying to hold down a job while I do it all. It can get hard at times, but thanks to all my efforts I've been allotted lots of new opportunities, and I like to think I've become a more rounded individual. I've already been accepted to an early education program at my college, and now I'm just trying to keep up with how fast time is flying, as well as working to help alleviate my tuition, so that hopefully when it becomes my turn to help the next generations I can put all my attention and focus into their development rather than my student debt. However, no matter the outcome of all my work, I'm confident I'll still make my way into education, as dreams and dedication are fueling my aspirations and goals.

When children are young they never think about what their purpose is, they think about playing at recess, learning their favorite color, and who their friends are. However, as children grow older parents and other adults in their lives begin to ask them, "What do you want to be when you grow up?". Such a loaded question for such young children, but even so many have an answer. Most want to be in the entertainment industry, like singers, and sports players, or maybe they want to be in the helping fields, like teachers, or doctors. As far as I can remember I've wanted to be a teacher, of course as a kid my idea of teaching was playing fun dance videos and going out to recess with my class. The only issue was my family was barely making it by, I saw my mom and dad struggle, I saw their divorce, I saw them remarry other people, I've seen their struggles and their commitments, and it showed me how hard life is when you don't have funds. I wanted nothing more than to help my family and avoid this future for myself, so I decided I would give up on teaching and focus on a different career like medicine. For years I pushed myself into the medical field, never knowing what I wanted out of it. I told myself it was fine, just join the medical field, make money, and help out my family. I joined all the medical-based classes in school, I studied and pursued the best grades, and I put effort into joining clubs that would make me look well-rounded, but I still felt so empty. It wasn't until I met my English teacher from my junior year that my ideas finally started to change. When my teacher Mrs. Sween, got to talking about what I wanted to do with life I mentioned how I used to want to be a teacher before I realized how much money they make. In response, she asked me something I wasn't able to forget, "What makes you excited?". I know it sounds like such an odd question but it really stuck with me, becoming a doctor and imagining helping people fix their ailments didn't excite me, barely even piqued my interest. However, when I thought of being a teacher, making lesson plans, getting to know students, and teaching them important lessons they need to grow, I felt the excitement and daydreams take over my mind and heart. From then on I decided that I must be loyal to myself, I couldn't keep pretending to be something I wasn't. Now I'm in my senior year, I've been accepted into my state college for early education, still putting effort and dedication to my clubs, my job, and my friends, and preparing for the moment I finally get to walk across that stage. Of course, I'm still worried about money, it's what makes the world go round, but in the end, being a teacher has always been so much more than getting money. It's the responsibility of a lifetime to be a proper teacher, to help mold and build up the next generations so that hopefully the world can become a better place. I can't imagine an occupation better for me than education, and I can't wait to start this journey.

As a daughter to two teen parents, I know all about what it means to struggle with education. When my parents had me they were still trying to figure themselves out, however, due to me and my brothers they didn't have the chance. They had to drop out of school, get jobs to support us and make sacrifices for us. Unfortunately for me and my siblings living in constant struggle impacted us educationally. I was behind in all areas of education, especially reading. By the second grade, I was only at a kindergarten level of reading. I did my best to learn and continued my way through education, while I did have many teachers who always did their best to help me grow and learn, there will always be a part of me that is insecure about what I know. There will always be hesitation when I raise my hand to answer a question, and there will always be the impulse to double-check my work even on the most basic of questions, and this is all because of how behind I was as a child. Due to my own experiences, I know how hard it can be for children to learn and grow when there are so many different circumstances affecting their lives. It makes my heart hurt to think how many children are out there struggling in their learning due to things like home life, disabilities, or even sociability. What makes it worse is to realize how many of them are genuinely slipping through the cracks, getting pushed further and further into their misunderstandings, which ends up with millions of children who are behind the curb. This exact situation is why I am so passionate about being an early education teacher, i want to help the children who are struggling, I want to provide them with an environment that is safe to learn in and I want to help build their education instead of letting them slip through the cracks. Luckily for me, I managed to get some of the kindest teachers, who take the time to teach me what I need to know. With the help of these teachers in my life, I've been able to build up my grades, I've been able to join multiple clubs, and I've managed to make friendships and relationships with the people around me. There are still so many children out there who won't be as lucky as me, they won't have access to a good education or good teachers or may fall into other unfortunate circumstances. My goal is to become the teacher I needed when I was younger, and hopefully, once I become established I can help even more children around the world be the best they can be. If I'm lucky, I'll have the opportunity to change the world for the better when I'm gone.

Having a military father was hard, we were always moving, to the point where I have never spent more than three years in one school system up to my senior year. So I would say I know my fair share about being "the new kid", in every school I was enrolled at I had to make new friends, make new connections with teachers, adjust to different rules, and so much more like grading systems. However moving for me wasn't simple, it made me shy, antisocial, and very awkward. I had never gotten the chance to learn social cues because I was constantly moving to different states as a young child, meaning they would have different reactions to what I thought was normal. In other words, I never had the chance to build who I was, I had to change every time I moved to a different state. This made me extremely anxious as a child, never knowing how to act to whom, never knowing what was acceptable to say. It also took a toll on my academics, moving so much during the year meant that I joined different curriculums at different points. For example in fourth grade when we were learning all fifty states, I moved, and when I got to my new school they had already learned all those states, so to this day I still struggle with my country's states. Being "the new kid" was hard for me, I was constantly anxious, and I was bullied often, I didn't even really have friends. When I did make friends it wasn't for long, maybe for a whole school year if I was lucky, but half the time once that school year ended I never saw them again. So being the socially awkward and shy kid I was, I turned to the internet and books. Luckily for me, it turned me into an avid reader and even inspired me to write as a hobby, I can remember having so many phases as a kid, I had so many hobbies that I wanted to make a career out of. As I grew these little hobbies of mine connected me to others, and slowly I came out of my shell and made more friends and meaningful connections, even if I moved away those connections helped shape me. Throughout my life, I went through many ideas of what I wanted to be, and even though being "the new kid" gave me a lot of hardships, I'm grateful for the opportunities I had. Moving so much gave me the opportunities to see different ways of life, to experience different types of people, and to experiment with different hobbies. Now that it's my last year of high school I'm getting ready for college, I know that I want to become a teacher, and I want to give support and connections to kids who are experiencing what i had experienced as they moved through the system. I want to be able to use my position as an educator and mentor to teach young children that being "the new kid" is okay, and I want to teach other children that no matter how new one is that doesnt change how they get treated.

In the second grade I had a teacher named Mrs. Plummer, Mrs. Plummer was hands down the best teacher I ever had in my early education years. That woman loved her students and always did her best to educate them and help shape them for the better. Unfortunately, I moved away and never went back, from then on I had teachers who gave up on me, teachers who called me degrading names to my face, and even teachers who ignored the bullying I went through. Due to this lack of connection with my teachers, I lashed out, and I made some decisions I regret but luckily I've grown past them. Even through all the phases of my life, Mrs. Plummer resurfaces in my thoughts often, I remember the love and effort she put into her students, and truly I believe Mrs. Plummer is what influenced me most to choose early education as my future. Within my own experience, I've seen how much a kind source of love can stay with you for life, and even change the course from then on. Love is Kind, is my relationship with Mrs. Plummer, it is unconditional kindness for another human being, it is the evolution of connection between two people, Love is Kind is changing someone's life for the better with your time, energy, and love. Now that I've grown, and now that it's my turn to give back to the world I am choosing to go back to where it all begins. Once I get through this last year of school and graduate I will go to college and get my four-year degree in early education, I will do my best to experience new situations, meet new people, and participate in all the student teaching opportunities available to me, so that I may be properly prepared for teaching and shaping young children despite language, cultural, or learning differences. Then when I graduate from college with the knowledge needed to properly handle young minds I will start teaching the little ones the curriculum they need to know like their colors, but more importantly, I will teach them how to process their emotions, how to communicate with others, how to treat each other as well as the world, and lastly, I will teach them to love and be kind to one another. When I teach them these lessons I will treat them with all the love, effort, and kindness that was shown to me by my former hero and teacher, Mrs. Plummer.

My name is Amber Kaus, I am the youngest daughter to two teen parents. My parents got pregnant when they were both in high school, this forced them to drop out and get jobs to provide for their new family. With no support from their parents, my father joined the military and my mother stayed home to watch her children. Throughout all my years, I have experienced many things, mostly due to the fact my parents were teens. I have memories of living in poverty, being hungry but there being no food for me or my brothers, memories of my parents divorcing leaving me and my siblings in a broken home without a mother. memories of my father moving us around so much due to the military that I've never been in a school system for more than three years, memories of the horrific bullying I endured in almost every grade, and even memories of my stepfather being intoxicated off of alcohol or even hard drugs to cope with the pains in his life. With all of my life experience, I have gone down many wrong paths, I've stolen from people and stores, I've bullied peers, I've vandalized homes, and many other dangerous experiences that could've landed me in serious trouble. luckily for me, I've grown, I've learned to love myself and accept my life for what it is. Throughout my stage of exploration, I discovered my endearment for small children, I love how they're so wide-eyed and eager to learn about the world around them. Witnessing all the innocence and wonder those children have made me want to foster and protect it. When I realized I had developed a passion for young children, I wanted nothing more than to help those young children through life in a way I was never helped. I want to go to college and earn a bachelor's degree in early education so I may teach young children the many lessons out there that young children must learn to grow properly, important lessons like how to process emotions, how to love themselves, how to speak to others, and most importantly how to treat the people and world around them. Being able to go to college would not only push me further into my development as a human, cause me to experience more of what life has to offer for me. But to unlock a wealth of knowledge about children's psychology and education methods that I must know to best educate and shape young children into the beautiful souls I know they have the opportunity to become.