I want to go into education because I once had a teacher that saved my life, and the only thing she did was listen to me. Picture this: an underweight, underloved, 6th grader with no parents that they can truly call a parent meets a teacher who lost a child and has nothing but love to give. That was what happened when a 10 year old me walked into 6th grade English class. The teacher had lost her only child to a motorcycle accident the summer prior, and I was living in a loveless 'home'. School over the years of my elementary career became my true home, and the teachers and students my family. As for my English teacher, she became my lifeline. I had always been too scared to tell the counselors or other people about my home life. My ex step-mother had a lot of connections within the school. So, when I came to school with a shaved head (a nightmare for a little girl of 10), or when I suddenly became ‘sick’ right before the biggest field trip of the year, or I came to school looking a little more banged up than normal, I didn’t tell anyone the truth about what happened. They just thought I was a hyperactive kid who fell down too much, had a failed pixie cut, and had a poorly timed weak immune system. But my teacher saw through all that, and her doing that literally saved my life. She listened, she watched, and she helped. She would let me talk to her, to just get things off my chest, and her room always felt like a safe space. That in essence, is what I want to do with my life. I want to be a teacher so I can help the kids that otherwise would never get any help, the ones who just need someone to talk to, someone who will listen. I want to let the kids who grew up like me have somewhere they can feel like they can call home, when their actual houses don’t feel like home. I want to be able to let those kids have a little peace, and teach them life lessons that will let them one day help others. The sad reality is that there will likely always be kids with rough home lives that don’t feel at home in their own houses, but there’s a bright side to this, one that I can help contribute to. For every kid, there is a chance to change, to help make the world brighter, to help them become better people. And hopefully, they can do what I plan to do, they can help other kids to be better, to feel safe, and little by little we can make the world a better place. I plan specifically on being a history teacher, and history teaches that the smallest thing, something you may not even notice can change someone's life, or even change the entire course of history. History teaches us that change can happen, it may be slow, it will be hard, but in the end, if I can make the world slightly better by being a teacher and offering solace for kids like me, then that’s what I’m going to do. That is why I want to be a teacher, because I want to pass along that kindness and make a difference.

When I was in the 6th grade, a teacher saved my life. To her, she was just being kind to a student that clearly needed it, but to me she gave me not only a reason to live, but a goal for my life, one I’m making very large steps to now. My homelife in elementary school was, in a word, horrible. I was isolated from other kids, I was underfed, unloved, and humiliated. My home at the time wasn’t a home, but rather a place that I dreaded returning to, because I knew that any struggle I faced at school would be nothing compared to what I would face walking through that door. It got to the point that I was ready to end everything, and that’s never a thing that a 12 year old should be thinking. But something stopped me- well, someone, and I doubt to this day that she realized how much of an impact she had on me. My 6th grade English teacher had her own struggles the year she taught me, and I think that in some way we leaned on each other. She had lost a son, I had guardians, but hadn’t felt the actual love of a parent in a good many years. And she noticed, looking back there was no way that she didn’t. But she never said anything to me about home. Instead, she would let me talk to her, she rekindled my love of reading, but most of all she was just kind. And that led me to the realization I myself wanted to be a teacher, so I too would be able to help kids by listening. I’m now a senior, and this fall I will be attending my top-pick college and working towards two degrees, my Secondary Education Degree, and a general History degree. I’m going to use these degrees to teach high school level history for roughly a decade, before transferring to my true goal- teaching in a Juvenile Detention Center. The kids that end up in ‘Juvie Halls’ are usually by far the ones who need a shoulder to lean on most, and I’m going to provide that. I’m going to pass on the kindness that I was shown, and I’m going to make a difference, even if it’s only a small difference, in this world.

My drive to be a teacher came from a teacher I once had that saved my life, and the only thing she did was listen to me and respect me. Picture this: an underweight, underloved, 6th grader with no parents that they can truly call a parent meets a teacher who lost a child and has nothing but love to give. That was what happened when a 10 year old me walked into Mrs. Tutens English class. She had lost her only child to a motorcycle accident the summer prior, and I was living in a very bad home. School over the years of my elementary career became my home, and the teachers and students my family. As for Mrs. Tuten, she became my lifeline. I had always been too scared to tell the counselors or other people about my home life. My ex step-mother had a lot of connections within the school. So, when I came to school with a shaved head (a nightmare for a little girl of 10), or when I suddenly became ‘sick’ right before the biggest field trip of the year, or I came to school looking a little more banged up than normal, I didn’t tell anyone the truth about what happened. They just thought I was a hyperactive kid who fell down too much, had a failed pixie cut, and had a poorly timed weak immune system. But Mrs. Tuten saw through all that, and her doing that literally saved my life. She listened, she watched, and she helped. She would let me talk to her, to just get things off my chest, and her room always felt like a safe space. That in essence, is what I want to do with my life. I want to be a teacher so I can help the kids that otherwise would never get any help, the ones who just need someone to talk to, someone who will listen. I want to let the kids who grew up like me have somewhere they can feel like they can call home, when their actual houses don’t feel like home. I want to be able to let those kids have a little peace, and teach them life lessons that will let them one day help others. The sad reality is that there will likely always be kids with rough home lives that don’t feel at home in their own houses, but there’s a bright side to this, one that I can help contribute to. For every kid, there is a chance to change, to help make the world brighter, to help them become better people. And hopefully, they can do what I plan to do, they can help other kids to be better, to feel safe, and little by little we can make the world a better place. I plan specifically on being a history teacher, and history teaches that the smallest thing, something you may not even notice can change someone's life, or even change the entire course of history. History teaches us that change can happen, it may be slow, it will be hard, but in the end, if I can make the world slightly better by being a teacher and offering solace for kids like me, then that’s what I’m going to do. That is why I want to be a teacher, because teachers save lives.

When I was young, my life was very difficult, to an extent that no child should ever have to deal with. The only reason I made it through was because of a teacher I had in the 6th grade, who actually listened to me when I had nowhere else to turn to. Because of her, I decided to be a teacher myself one day, and that is how I plan to leave a positive impact on the world, by being someone else’s teacher who will actually listen. I specifically plan on teaching history for quite a few years, but after getting some hands-on experience with teaching in public schools I plan on transferring to teaching in the one place where kids undeniably are going to need a little more care and help in this world- juvenile delinquency halls. A lot of kids in juvie halls have had horrible upbringings, some of them might even have very similar ones to the one I had. This would put me at the unique advantage of being able to relate more closely with kids and maybe even giving them hope that they too can overcome their pasts and can have successful futures too. I also personally plan on trying to find a way to help spread the ‘Peer Helper’ program across the public schools I end up teaching at, or at least starting something similar. The Peer Helper program was started in Alabama after demand for the Jennifer Claire Moore Foundation grew. It’s a program I’ve been in for the past three years, and one I think would be very beneficial to other states and schools than its original state. If I cannot make it spread, then I will work towards making a similar program, or work towards helping any standing programs similar to it. Most of all though, the biggest way I plan on making a positive impact is just listening to students and offering a safe place in my classroom. Some students don’t have a safe place at all and I want to help and that feeling for kids. Everyone deserves a person to listen to them, and everyone deserves to feel safe. For me the best way I can make a safe palace is being a teacher and encouraging kids everyday. These kids I plan on teaching are in fact a huge part of the future, and if I can help them to believe in themselves and overcome the issues they may have to face young, then I can by proxy be part of the world getting better, and maybe i can even inspire other kids to go into jobs that allow them to better the world bit by bit. I know that my part in making the world better isn’t going to be dramatic by any means, but it will help, and that’s all I can really ask for. All this to say, I’m going to make this world a better place by doing the one thing I know can and has worked before, by helping install hope in other people and letting them grow to be better than the people that came before them. And a little hope goes a long way to making people believe in themselves enough to in turn positively impact the world. Eventually, they will help spread what my old teacher started with me, and the world can get better, bit by bit. That’s how I plan on using my future career to make a positive impact in the world.

Jack Terry- or Jakub Szabmacher- inspires me because he truly is the epitome of a survivor. He had to deal with way more than any child ever should have, and yet persevere in ways that make him more than deserving of recognition as a hero. I myself went through horrors as a child. I may not have lived through the holocaust, but my personal hell was the ‘home’ I lived in. At the age of 6, my parents divorced, leaving me to play the role of ‘mother’ to my two little siblings, aged 4 and almost 2. My biological father eventually moved in his mother to take care of us, but she did not like children or noise, leaving me and my siblings to be locked in our rooms all day not making a sound because any noise whatsoever would get you screamed at for hours. Honestly, this was the easiest time of my life for a very, very long time. Eventually he remarried, to my (now ex) stepmother and then the true horrors began. We were not allowed food, bed, at occasions we were not even allowed in the house during the night, instead having to make do with sleeping on the freezing concrete in the uninsulated garage, or in the rat-infested half-rotten camper if we got in too much trouble. Yet I, and my siblings, survived. I tried my best to help raise them to learn to be better than our surroundings, and even whilst being subjected to horrors every day I tried my best to be kind to others. For the most part, me and my siblings faced the same horrors, but eventually as the years passed my father targeted me for especially heinous acts. Thankfully, eventually I was able to get out, living now with my biological aunt and uncle, but they are the only ones called ‘mom and dad’ now. My biological father is in jail, thankfully, but still I wonder sometimes what would have happened had I not got out, or had I not had support. Like the older inmate helped hide Jack, my teachers helped me to have some faith and not give up. Although they helped in different ways, the inmate that helped Jack and my teachers had the same impact, they both saved lives. I would not be here if not for them, and that fact encouraged me to become a teacher so I could in turn help people. I am going to eventually teach in Juvie halls because my upbringing gave me a unique perspective into being able to understand how hard life can be for kids, and unfortunately a lot of kids in Juvie end up there because of the issues they have at home during their childhood. I’m going to do some good by becoming a teacher that a kid can trust, and make them feel safe and love themselves. Hopefully I’ll even instill hope and drive in them so they too can be better people as they go along with life. I could have learned any number of terrible life lessons in my childhood, but by fate I learned a more positive one instead: kindness saves lives. I plan on helping pass this kindness, and helping to make the world a better, kinder place for the future generations by simply being there for kids who need someone to listen and be there. In this way I hope to be like Jack most: he is an inspiration for those who feel there is no hope, and I also want to inspire those who feel they cannot go on.

My name is Irene Nation, and my biggest goal in life is to become a teacher in order to pass along the kindness and support that teachers in my own life have shown me- a kind of kindness that genuinely saved my life. My philosophy is that if I can pass along this kindness shown to me, I can help make others want to as well and eventually the world will slowly become a better place for everyone. I have known I wanted to be a teacher since elementary school, and have known I wanted to be a history teacher since I was 15. I have my major life events planned out, my career mapped. I’ll go to college- no gap year for me- get my teaching degree, get married and have children. Then I will teach in the public school system for a while (getting my masters in the meantime) before eventually transferring to teach in a juvenile detention center. The reason I wait until after I teach public school for a few years is so I’m able to have more classroom experience beforehand. At the end of my time in Juvie Halls, I will go back to teaching public school, and then finally go get my doctorate and use that degree to teach at a University or other college before finally retiring. After my biological children grow up and move out, I plan on being a foster parent as well. I have a great number of friends who had to grow up in the system, and I myself very nearly had to grow up there as well. I know very well the horrors of bad parents, and know that foster parents can be just as bad or worse. As much as the system needs a reform, I don’t have the power to do that by myself so I will become an advocate for change whilst also helping in the way most available to me: becoming a foster parent myself. I want nothing more than to encourage, listen to and learn from the upcoming generations, I study history as a way to entertain myself and learn and as much as the past will teach us things, the future will also. My future students and children- both biological and foster because in my eyes they will all always be by children- are not just people that will be in my life, but also the future of this world. I have only got as far as I have in life because I had teachers, friends, who would help me and encourage me and listen to me, and I am going to make the world change for the better by being that person for someone else. It’s the reason I am choosing to teach Juvie Hall children, they need someone to listen more than any other group of children, and because of the unfortunate way that many of them suffer through very rough home lives, I know that if I am able to teach them and listen to them, I can connect with them and maybe even give them peace of mind and hope for their own futures, showing them they can be better that the situation they were born or thrust into. So, how is my career going to help me make the world a better place? By allowing me to reach out to and instill hope and self-love into the next generations so that they can go on to become great people who can also spread love and kindness, something that this world can nerve get enough of.

When I was young, my life was very difficult, to an extent that no child should ever have to deal with. The only reason I made it through was because of a teacher I had in the 6th grade, who actually listened to me when I had nowhere else to turn to. Because of her, I decided to be a teacher myself one day, and that is how I plan to leave a positive impact on the world, by being someone else’s teacher who will actually listen. This decision was made when I was around 11 years old, and although some small details have changed over the course of several years and research, it has remained my ultimate goal. What started as a goal to teach middle school English has flourished into a fully planned career path including the different places I plan on teaching, when I’ll go back to school, and what I plan to do with my retirement. I’m dedicated to becoming a teacher, because I know if I do become one, I will be able to help others the way my teachers helped me throughout my early years. My career path looks like this: I start classes at my top pick college this August (my top pick because of the friendly atmosphere of the campus and the fact they have the best teaching program in my state) and as I go through with the program, I am going to become certified as a substitute teacher. This plan allows me to do quite a few different things, the most important of which are that I will be able to gain real-world experience in the classroom -something that will be an invaluable asset once my career actually begins- and that I will become a well known name amongst different schools, both of which will help me when I actually began applying for teaching positions. After receiving my degree I will become a high school teacher- history being my bias subject- and will teach at public schools for around a decade, during which time I plan on going back to school to get my masters. Following my roughly decade-long period of teaching in public schools, I plan on making the next step in my career plan, and in all honesty the one I look forward to the most : teaching in Juvenile Detention Halls. I am especially looking forward to this because I know if there is anywhere I’m going to be able to try to make a difference in a child's life, it will be here. I grew up in wretched environments that were very similar to what a lot of children that end up in Juvie sadly have to go through, which thankfully has made me better equipped to help listen to, empathize with, and encourage them than the average person, something most of these kids desperately need. I do plan on eventually going back to school to get my doctorate and will find a collage to teach history at for a while as a sort of ‘pre-retirement’ before my ‘true’ retirement, which will be living at home with my family, fostering children, and occasionally being a substitute teacher when I’m looking for something more to do than just trying to be an activist for kids like myself and the ones I’ll eventually teach. I am truly excited for my future, and it’s with no small amount of pride that I get to say I not only know what I want to be, but I’ve been on this path most of my life, since I was a child.

I want to make a change in my life because thus far I have not been able to help do good in this world as much as I would like to, a goal I’ve held since a child and continue to work towards every day. I grew up in a place that was less of a home and more of a house of horrors, so I know very well how hard a child's life can be and especially so when they feel they have nowhere to turn to. Through it all, I helped others as much as I could, because I knew if I needed help there were likely more people like me who also needed help. This was in many ways the darkest time of my life, but the kindness shown to me by my 6th grade English teacher did two things: stopped me from leaving this world at 12, and gave me the firm resolve to become a teacher one day myself and thus pay forward the kindness she gave me. Thus far, I have researched how teaching works, as well as actually changing my teaching plans as I learn more. I have been accepted to the college with the best teaching program in my state- and this is just the start of my plan for teaching and helping. As I go through with my education I am going to start working as a substitute teacher, allowing me to gain experience in classroom management, making a little bit of money to help support myself and my future and becoming more well known by schools in my area. This will give me a ‘leg up’ when I apply for jobs because schools will already know me and thus may show a bias towards me over another applicant they know nothing about. After being employed in public schools for a while I will transfer to my true dream job: teaching at juvenile detention halls. ‘Juvie Halls’ as they are more often referred to are full of kids who genuinely just need someone to be there for them. The majority of these such institutions are filled with kids from lower income families, or who have had to deal with childhoods no person should, and because of the way I had to grow up, I not only understand the situation, but would be better equipped to listen to and empathize with my future students and hopefully allow them to see that one day they two can overcome the places and situations that they came from. A majority of people turn to crime as either the only way they know how to deal with life- often following the footsteps of a parent, guardian, or other such role-model also struggling- or because it’s a quicker way to be able to support themselves or their family. My biggest goal is to offer a safe place for kids to learn that there are other options for them and that they can be better if they put their minds to it. However, I need funds for this dream to come true so I am working even harder than ever on my schoolwork, saving, and applying for scholarships like this one. I know I can make a difference in this world if I can just get to the point of being able to reach out to more people. I’m going to, somehow, and that’s how I want to change my life, and in a small way, the world. By making it to where I can help more people hope than I’m able to now.

When I was young, my life was very difficult, to an extent that no child should ever have to deal with. The only reason I made it through was because of a teacher I had in the 6th grade, who actually listened to me when I had nowhere else to turn to. Because of her, I decided to be a teacher myself one day, and that is how I plan to leave a positive impact on the world, by being someone else’s teacher who will actually listen. I specifically plan on teaching history for quite a few years, but after getting some hands-on experience with teaching in public schools I plan on transferring to teaching in the one place where kids undeniably are going to need a little more care and help in this world- juvenile delinquency halls. A lot of kids in juvie halls have had horrible upbringings, some of them might even have very similar ones to the one I had. This would put me at the unique advantage of being able to relate more closely with kids and maybe even giving them hope that they too can overcome their pasts and can have successful futures too. I also personally plan on trying to find a way to help spread the ‘Peer Helper’ program across the public schools I end up teaching at, or at least starting something similar. The Peer Helper program was started in Alabama after demand for the Jennifer Claire Moore Foundation grew. It’s a program I’ve been in for the past three years, and one I think would be very beneficial to other states and schools than its original state. If I cannot make it spread, then I will work towards making a similar program, or work towards helping any standing programs similar to it. Most of all though, the biggest way I plan on making a positive impact is just listening to students and offering a safe place in my classroom. Some students don’t have a safe place at all and I want to help and that feeling for kids. Everyone deserves a person to listen to them, and everyone deserves to feel safe. For me the best way I can make a safe palace is being a teacher and encouraging kids everyday. These kids I plan on teaching are in fact a huge part of the future, and if I can help them to believe in themselves and overcome the issues they may have to face young, then I can by proxy be part of the world getting better, and maybe i can even inspire other kids to go into jobs that allow them to better the world bit by bit. I know that my part in making the world better isn’t going to be dramatic by any means, but it will help, and that’s all I can really ask for. All this to say, I’m going to make this world a better place by doing the one thing I know can and has worked before, by helping install hope in other people and letting them grow to be better than the people that came before them. And a little hope goes a long way to making people believe in themselves enough to in turn positively impact the world. Eventually, they will help spread what my old teacher started with me, and the world can get better, bit by bit. That’s how I plan on making a positive impact on the world.

My name is Irene Nation, I'm currently a senior in highschool, and my biggest goal in life is to become a teacher in order to pass along the kindness and support that teachers in my own life have shown me- a kind of kindness that genuinely saved my life. I had a very difficult childhood. Leaving me with a father always on the road (he was a truck driver at the time) and a grandmother who was sent to ‘raise’ us, but really left most of the responsibilities besides cooking to me. Eventually, my father remarried, leading my life to a whole world of issues. My (now ex-)stepmother did not like us, her two daughters did not like us, and they did all they could to let us know. The years I spent living with my biological father and stepmother were the worst of my entire life but somehow I managed to not focus on what I was having to deal with, but rather pushed all my efforts into school and trying to help anyone and everyone I could. I knew that I was living in a situation that no one knew of, and I was perspective enough to realise that other kids might be as well. Still, though all of it, I know that I would not have survived those years without my teachers. I couldn’t talk to the counselors, as word would just go back to my stepmother and make things worse, but teachers oftentimes would help me in small ways. They would let me have some snack or another they had lying around, they would include me in an activity I wasn't supposed to be able to do because I wasn’t able to pay for it, or they simply listened. Because of the fact I lived it, I know how impactful it is to listen, and I have known since those years that I want to go into the teaching field to help kids who don’t feel they have somewhere to turn. It’s alsp the reason I joined the Peer Helpers program at my school, which allows me to listen and help other kids my age even now. So, just as I want to teach, if I could start a charity, the mission would be the same as the one I have for my future classroom: set up a way for children who may not have anywhere else they feel safe to actually relax and feel secure. My mission would be to make sure- eventually- every kid felt they had a safe space. Some of the things we might offer would be food packages to food insecure kids, counseling for kids who need someone to talk to, and other simple necessities that kids don’t have access to. To give them the ability to actually enjoy their childhood, instead of spending it in fear. I’m not sure how feasible I am to start that charity, but I know becoming a teacher is something I can do, especially with help from amazon scholarships like this one. It will help me pay for my tuition for the Secondary Education program and History degree I am working towards. But most importantly, it will help me work towards a place where I can pass on a little bit of kindness.

I think the biggest reason that we try to understand the universe at large is because doing so would help us understand ourselves on a deeper, human level. I love history. I love learning of long ago, far off times, of people and things that should have absolutely nothing to do with me, and my current life. However, they do have something to do with me, a lot to do with me, and every other person to ever exist. In this way, the universe and people are a lot alike. The universe as it is now is due to the history of its existence. The way I want to learn about our existence is by getting a history degree, as well as a teaching degree. What better way to learn of our future than by teaching our past to the people who will ultimately determine how our future plays out. The past teaches us a lot about ourselves as we are today. Any number of parallels can be made linking long dead leaders to today's politicians, and that’s only one of millions of examples on how history and the present are the same. So what does that have to do with the universe? Well, the universe also has a history. How it came to be, how humans seem to be the most intelligent beings in existence (at least, that we have so far come across), how and why things work exactly the way they manage to. Each country that’s risen and fallen, every kind of advancement in technology, it all comes down to our world's history, and if we learn more about the universe, we may just learn more about the teeny tiny blue dot we live on which can in turn help us to both learn about ourselves and also help us to plan and work towards a better future for ourselves and humanity as a whole. The nature of our universe can even help us to learn more about human bodies. Why does Earth seem to be able to hold the most forms of life? Well, we say so far because of water and oxygen, but what about microorganisms that live without either of those? In all reality, learning how these things live can help doctors to understand how to kill them, meaning we may just find ways to eliminate ailments such as the common cold, a sickness that even to this day has no cure other than ‘just wait it out’. So, when it comes down to it, I believe we try to learn about the universe for the same reason that we try to learn anything, which is simply because learning helps us to improve. It helps us to understand why things work, and thus be able to fix them when they break. It helps us to find patterns, thus allowing us to end negative patterns and continue positive ones. We study the universe, because if you truly look at it, the universe is a part of us, just as much as we are a part of it, and we like to understand things so we can attempt to constantly improve them.

My biggest goal in this life is to be a teacher, both so I am able to make a difference in people's lives, and so I am able to make a safe space for kids who grew up like me without a safe place to go. This scholarship will help me be able to afford my college tuition and books and make it possible for me to make a difference. I have known I wanted to be a teacher since elementary school, and have known I wanted to be a history teacher since I was 15. I have my major life events planned out, my career mapped. I’ll go to college- no gap year for me- get my teaching degree, get married and have children. Then I will teach in the public school system for a while (getting my masters in the meantime) before eventually transferring to teach in a juvenile detention center. The reason I wait until after I teach public school for a few years is so I’m able to have more classroom experience beforehand. At the end of my time in Juvie Halls, I will go back to teaching public school, and then finally go get my doctorate and use that degree to teach at a University or other college before finally retiring. But how does this scholarship help me achieve these goals? Well, they’ll help me afford my college education, allowing me to get the bachelor's degree that the rest of my career will be built on. Without scholarships, I will not be able to afford college, so opportunities like this one really and truly do help me. They give me hope, and a reason to believe that all my efforts reading to this point haven’t been in vain. They allow me to plan even more of my future, and do so without having to worry about how long I’ll have to put off my dreams because of money. My biggest reason for wanting to be a teacher is to make a difference in kids' lives. Growing up I had a few teachers that honestly saved my life, all by just listening to me, and being there for me. They taught me empathy and led me to the path of trying to help anyone I can that I follow to this day. If they taught me that lesson, I’m sure they taught other kids that same lesson, that kindness goes a long way, and something you don’t even notice can help someone so, so much. This scholarship would help me not only just be a teacher, but rather help me to do my part in making this world a better place, one student at a time.

My main goal in life is to be a history teacher, a goal I have known since the beginning would be more difficult for me, but it has nonetheless remained to be my dream. As an afab person, and specifically one who has never played sports and has a certain political leaning that opposes most of the area in which I live, I know that being a history teacher here is going to be wildly difficult for me. I have known this from the very beginning. Going into a male dominated profession is something that is by no means easy, and coupling that with the fact my parents have told me I will get no financial help from them for college, scholarships are the main way I will have to pay for this. I have been told, several times, by many of my teachers, that it’s an unrealistic dream, that I need to pick a strong backup, because I simply won’t be able to get the job I want. And when I’m told this, all I can think about is how I’m going to prove them wrong. I will, I know I will, and even as I steal my nerves to do just that, I am very aware of just how much work it is going to take me. And being aware of that, I know that I know I have taken steps to prepare myself for how much harder I will have to work. History is full of people that beat the odds, and succeeded where they by all accounts shouldn’t have. I may not be leading armies like Joan of Arc, or gaining civil rights like Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but I am overcoming. I am going to be a teacher. I am going to help carve a place in this world that teaches kids like me, and like many others I know, that we CAN make it. It’s quite ironic to me that the same people who raised this generation on promises of ‘you can be whatever you want when you grow up’ are now changing the tune, ‘you can be anything’ giving way to the song of ‘well, not you’. This, in my opinion, is unacceptable. And I refuse to dance to the new tune. I will be a teacher, whatever it takes. I will study harder than my peers, I will graduate with high grades, and I will become a teacher that can help make students feel safe and like they can do anything. Because they can, so long as they put their mind to it. And they will, they are the future, and I want nothing more than to help make our future brighter student by student. All it takes is a little faith and having someone believe in you. We can make this world better, and I want to be a part of it.

My biggest passion in this life is to be a teacher, both so I am able to make a difference in people's lives, and so I am able to make a safe space for kids who grew up like me without a safe place to go. I am going to be a history teacher. In the area I live, that’s not a very high possibility for me. I’m a young queer person- a young queer afab person- in a red state where almost all the history teachers are male coaches… usually with red-leaning views themselves. To say that oftentimes history class is my most uncomfortable class would be an understatement. Which is awful, because history is a huge passion of mine, and has been since I was a young child. It’s honestly just disappointing that I and others like me do not have the option of even feeling like we cannot speak on topics in classes we otherwise would excel at because of fear of harassment. I personally would love to see a change in this, and would especially love to be part of that change. I want my future classroom to be a safe place for any and every student, regardless of their background, their race, their gender, who they love. I want my classroom to be a place kids can talk to each other, and I want them to feel like they are able to talk to me. I want to make a difference in people's lives, like my previous teachers have done for me. However, as I previously mentioned, the possibility of me being a history teacher is not nearly as high as the possibility of some of my peers. Aside from the obvious bias for people very much not like me, I also do not have the funds that any people going into my situation would. So, what can I do to help remedy that? I apply to scholarships. Like this one. Scholarships are my biggest hope for my future career, my biggest hope for me not having to put off my education, and my biggest hope for being able to make that safe space for students that I so wish to make. I know I can do it, can help to make so many people’s own futures a little brighter, all it takes is a little faith (and a little money). So, how has being queer impacted my life goals? How do I plan to carry on Coco’s - and every other person that fought for change that came before me- legacy? What is my biggest passion? They all have the same answer. My being queer has made me want to make a difference, to make the world better. Like Coco and all the others, I will do whatever I can to make this world just a little better, just a little more accepting. All for the hope, the belief, that one day our work will pay off and instead of just having to have safe spaces, the world itself will be everyone’s safe place.

Huckelberry, Butterworth, Marco, Aileen This category would be named "Mark Twain characeters" as everyone listed comes from at least one of his books. These books span many years, and only the most dedicated Twain fan would get the, so this category truly would be a great purple section. Strawberry, Blueberry, Pizza, Apple These are all types of "Common Pies" (the name of the category), and would add a layer of trickery as one would think that "Huckleberry" would also belong, as it also ends in '-berry' and is a fruit. Amazon, Mississippi, Congo, Bow This category would be labeled "_____ River" as these are all major or famous rivers throughout the word. I think this is a good cataory as it pulls from geography knowledge and would make for a more interesting game. Mississippi also has a connection to Mark Twain and especially Huckelberry Finn, so it's a connection within a connection! Walmart, Target, K-Mart, Dollar General This category is "Stores". I believe this would be good one for green, as it's easy to guess but also may confuse some shoppers who may try to put Amazon into this catagory (from the '______ River' catagory) because Amazon is another place to shop, albeit an online option. All in all, these would be tricky but fun catagories and options that would fit perfectly into the style of the NYT's puzzle games. Happy gaming!

My biggest current goal is to become a history teacher in order to help educate the world, and help to offer a safe space for children who otherwise would not have one. As this is a plan I have had since the 9th grade, I have planned it very thoroughly, first and foremost with my college, and then my career path. I am planning to attend my first semester of college in fall of 2025, and will be double majoring in secondary education and history. Over 4 years this education will cost me $41,846, or roughly $5,230.75 per semester. These scholarships would help exponentially with paying for college, helping me to avoid those ever dreaded student loan debts. While those can be under certain circumstances forgiven by the government, it would be much less stressful to be able to simply avoid them. Thankfully, I get to avoid some of the extra expenses of classes, as I will be able to get second-hand textbooks for free, which will save me roughly $970 annually for the school I plan on attending. This money can go towards my cost of living and transportation. While I am in school, I plan on getting a license to substitute ($38 state fee, free for each county). For me, I would only get licenses for the counties surrounding where I live, so that the cost of gas is lower. Substitutes in my area typically get an average of $90 per day subbing, which I would save as tuition money, or as necessity to live money. This would allow me to be paid for getting experience in my future career, as well as allowing me to make good impressions on the staff and administration of schools in case of a job opening. Once I graduate, I will officially begin my search for a teaching position while still subbing at different schools, maybe even going and getting my license in more counties to further my reach. Eventually, I will get a job, and that’s when everything slows down for a bit. I will settle into my new school, and eventually be tenured. Once I’m tenured I plan on going back to school to get my masters in teaching. This will lead to a guaranteed pay raise, allowing me to save more for my eventual doctorate. After roughly 10 years of teaching in public schools, I plan to go to the next stage of my career: Teaching in juvenile detention centers. I plan on waiting this long so that I am able to get the experience from managing classrooms in a calmer setting before attempting to teach students with criminal records. This job also comes with its benefits, as although it may be viewed as more dangerous, there will be guards to protect both the students and the teacher (me) from being in harm's way from other students or even outside forces. This job also comes with another pay raise, as a way to compensate for the more extreme environment. Another added benefit is the fact that juvenile halls require teachers year round, meaning I will no longer have to deal with the summer unemployment that other teachers must deal with. Finally, I will go back to school to finally get my doctorate, and I will work towards my final position- a professor. It would be a toned down environment after teaching juvenile delinquents for so many years, and will allow me to have a few less stressful years before my eventual retirement (though I plan on subbing even in retirement, as teaching really is my passion).

My biological parents divorced when I was in kindergarten, leaving me to live with my biological father (who was at the time a truck driver), and a little brother and sister(3 and 1). I myself was only 5, and was forced to become the ‘mother’ in a way, caring for my younger siblings while my biological father was on the road. Life during that time was very hard for me. I was the oldest, so it was my responsibility to make sure my baby siblings were okay, and it was also my responsibility to make sure my grades were good, the house was somewhat clean, there was a lot, but somehow I managed. I’m sure that many people raised by a single father- or even a blended family like mine would eventually become- have many great stories to tell about how their single parents love, or the love from a new parent, taught them kindness, and that is how they were impacted. I love that those are stories that other people can claim, however unfortunately that is not my story. My biological parents had not been prepared to be married, and had certainly not been ready to have children,so after not even 6 years of marriage, they divorced. Soon after, because my father could not raise us on the road with him, my grandmother (who did not like kids or noise, not a good combination when you’re attempting to raise three young children during the day) was brought in to ‘raise’ my siblings and me. So most of my early childhood was spent going to school trying to make sure no one knew what my home life was, and the most of my time at home was spent trying to make sure that my siblings and I were quiet enough to not set off my grandmother. However, we soon traded one awful mother figure for another when my father remarried 4 years after his first divorce. My (now ex) stepmother did not like my siblings and me. She had no love for any of us, and made that clear every chance she got. My father let her, in fact, he would join in often in showing his displeasure at our existence. We were viewed as burdens. My stepsisters, and later my half sisters, were not treated this way, and gradually the three of us (my biological siblings and me) realised that we were just carry-on, leftover luggage from his former marriage that our father no longer wanted. So, I stepped up again. I had to be a rock for my little siblings (my babies as I would call them), I learned to put others first. I learned to listen, to be there, to comfort, to heal and help. My point is this, my family was awful, but it taught me valuable lessons in life and in kindness.I am out of that family now, with a firm dedication to being the opposite of my biological parents and ex stepmother. In seeing them I learned what I should never do if I wanted to be a good person, and I’ve learned from their mistakes. Living through what I did lead me to wanting to teach history, because as a history teacher I will be able to not only teach the future generations how small events can change the world and how we can learn from others mistakes, but also be able to offer the less fortunate children- like I was- a safe space, so they can also heal, and maybe one day they can help others like us.

I want to be a teacher because I once had a teacher that saved my life, and the only thing she did was listen to me. Picture this: an underweight, underloved, 6th grader with no parents that they can truly call a parent meets a teacher who lost a child and has nothing but love to give. That was what happened when a 10 year old me walked into Mrs. Tutens English class. She had lost her only child to a motorcycle accident the summer prior, and I was living in a very bad home. School over the years of my elementary career became my home, and the teachers and students my family. As for Mrs. Tuten, she became my lifeline. I had always been too scared to tell the counselors or other people about my home life. My ex step-mother had a lot of connections within the school. So, when I came to school with a shaved head (a nightmare for a little girl of 10), or when I suddenly became ‘sick’ right before the biggest field trip of the year, or I came to school looking a little more banged up than normal, I didn’t tell anyone the truth about what happened. They just thought I was a hyperactive kid who fell down too much, had a failed pixie cut, and had a poorly timed weak immune system. But Mrs. Tuten saw through all that, and her doing that literally saved my life. She listened, she watched, and she helped. She would let me talk to her, to just get things off my chest, and her room always felt like a safe space. That in essence, is what I want to do with my life. I want to be a teacher so I can help the kids that otherwise would never get any help, the ones who just need someone to talk to, someone who will listen. I want to let the kids who grew up like me have somewhere they can feel like they can call home, when their actual houses don’t feel like home. I want to be able to let those kids have a little peace, and teach them life lessons that will let them one day help others. The sad reality is that there will likely always be kids with rough home lives that don’t feel at home in their own houses, but there’s a bright side to this, one that I can help contribute to. For every kid, there is a chance to change, to help make the world brighter, to help them become better people. And hopefully, they can do what I plan to do, they can help other kids to be better, to feel safe, and little by little we can make the world a better place. I plan specifically on being a history teacher, and history teaches that the smallest thing, something you may not even notice can change someone's life, or even change the entire course of history. History teaches us that change can happen, it may be slow, it will be hard, but in the end, if I can make the world slightly better by being a teacher and offering solace for kids like me, then that’s what I’m going to do. That is why I want to be a teacher, because teachers save lives.

History makes us who we are, as individual people, as communities, and as a whole. This is a concept that has intrigued me from as far back as the 3rd grade, and led me to my current life goal of becoming a history teacher. From a very young age I wanted to be a teacher, although originally that dream had me playing the role of an english teacher, not a history teacher. I specifically loved the idea of teaching others about the many amazing forms of past literature, from the science fiction of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein to the more down to earth story of love and family that is Louise Alcots Little Women. However, once I hit highschool I realised that I was not the best candidate for teaching others English when my true passion lied more in the word of history. The stories I loved over time changed from ones in fiction stories to those of actual human life. True stories, real people, they became my focus. They became my main interest. And so, over the course of my freshman year I decided I would focus on getting a degree in teaching history rather than teaching English. In the past three years, this has not changed, and I am looking forward to taking my first semester of college history classes this coming fall. I’m double majoring in Secondary Education and in History so I’m able to complete this goal. I want to teach because it will allow me to help others learn about the way history impacts us in so many ways, from huge ways to small, everyday things. It allows people to learn of themselves, learn how things start, and even how things end. History teaches that humans are creatures of habit, and thus it repeats itself often. Knowing this helps to stop us from making mistakes we’ve already made years, decades, and even centuries ago, which can lead to a better future. The future is coming one way or another, but the more people know about the past, the more we can better our future and the faster we can make those improvements. The best way I personally can lend to this is by doing what I have been planning and would love to do, and simply teach others about history, so we can make a better future all together, for ourselves, our children, and the world all together.