Helping others is something that truly benefits and impacts everyone. The key is ‘looking’ for a way to help in every moment of the day. I work at a high school, so while I’m in the classroom or passing students in the hall, I look for anyone who may need help picking up their books, look like they need a smile and a hello from a rough day, or just simply asking if I can help them with anything. This past summer, I set up a meeting with my head pastor to look for ways to give back to our community more. Many others were feeling the same pull. Next month, we open our 217 C.A.R.E.S. storefront to help give basic necessities like cleaning products and school supplies to single parents, low-income families, etc. COVID affected everyone in one way or another, but with stores having a low supply of necessities while prices on limited available stock skyrocketing, it devastated families who were already struggling. I’m excited to be a small part of this larger picture movement of having supplies available for those families. We are also looking to do classes! For example, how to write a resume, interviewing skills, computer classes, and more. My focus is always on other people. That’s why I have decided to go back to college in my 30s, even as a single mother. In any given week, I’m helping students in the classroom as an aid, cheer athletes as a coach, children as part of the leadership team in ministry, or making dinner for a family who just needs a break. My favorite quote comes from Sally Koch. She once said, “Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day.”

One of the biggest reasons I’ve decided to earn a teaching education license is to spread goodness and equality among students, preparing them to be positive community members who will also spread goodness and equality. As a paraprofessional in a small-town high school, it’s important to me to show just as much love and respect to students in special education classes as captains of the cheerleading squad. Speaking of cheer… As the coach of the cheerleading squad, our mission statement is “Be. The. Good!” It’s a reminder that not everyone has the same upbringing and opportunities as each other, and we should intentionally be being kind and loving all people, regardless of upbringing, skin color, special needs, or any other ‘difference’ that the world may label. We’re preparing for our 2022-20023 season. A large chunk of that planning is how can we help include others. We’re planning an event for students in our special education classrooms to take the field with us and perform. If there is a new student or family that comes to our town, we need to be the front line of welcoming them in with open arms. As we travel to other schools, we need to bring that peaceful love and welcoming heart as well. It doesn’t stop when the uniform comes off, though. It also is expected while at work, shopping with friends, and visiting family across the country. Each year, I intend to be adding new opportunities for us to reach out to others so that every single person has been personally touched and included. I look forward to having a classroom when I graduate from Western Illinois University, where students of all backgrounds feel equal and in turn, treat others equally. We are better together, so to be better, we must be together.

1. I deserve this scholarship because 'life's like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.' Might as well see if one of those chocolates has a scholarship inside! 2. My academic goals are apparently to go through high school a second time because I'm that crazy. Why else would someone want to graduate high school, work full time for 15+ years after graduation, and then return to the same town to work at that high school? My career goals consist of telling as many 'mom jokes' as possible because the 'dad jokes' are clearly getting too much attention. 3. This morning I overcame the biggest obstacle of my life. I managed to get my two children and myself out of bed, dressed, ready for school, and out the door on time. The bonus point? We even brushed our teeth! 4. No 4th question? Well, here's one - "Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field."

Sometimes, I feel as if my life has is in the middle of a Hallmark movie. My mother was a single parent until I was four years old. She remarried but as I watched my sister grow up and have her dad by her side, I didn’t even know my own father. Furthermore, it was “off-limits” to even ask about him. That, of course, left me always wondering why he wasn’t around and why I wasn’t allowed to know anything about him. In sixth grade, I faced abuse from my stepfather. I dealt with it alone. At an age where it’s already a confusing time of figuring out who you are, I had this secret hovering over me. Dancing was my outlet from a very early age, and as soon as I was old enough to work I jumped right in. I was on the high school dance team and took dance classes at the studio, and I worked as a student-dance teacher, a DJ and floor guard at our local skating rink, and a youth librarian. In my small town, we had limited sports for school and no community recreational center. There wasn’t a vast amount of employment options for teenagers, but I was grateful for the options I did have. Though working served as an escape, it taught me incredible time management skills, responsibility, and a work ethic that exceeded most students my age. Fast forward, I am a mother raising two boys on my own. Being a single parent certainly has its hardships. Providing for two children on one income is the obvious hardship, but showing them how to work through hardships with grace and joy is one that goes unnoticed at times. It’s important to me to help other students who may have a hard home life to see that they can succeed. I have been a paraprofessional a cheer coach at my high school since August, and many have shared some of the ‘tough stuff’ they’ve been battling: mental health, PTSD, parents’ divorces, being bullied, etc. They need someone in their corner who has gone through plenty of tough stuff and knows that they can make a difference regardless. Too many of their families are just “going through the motions” instead of helping fight for better futures. I want to be their advocate. As a coach, my team and I are working on doing community service projects to help aide where we can. Those projects will all look completely different. Some of those projects are providing opportunities for our special needs students to perform with us, as well as Christmas gifts and dinners for families who are struggling. Every single day, it’s intentionally being kind to others. Too many students feel alone in life. Many parents are working all the time just to make ends meet. We are stepping up to fill that void, to include them, to uplift them. That is why I’m completing my teaching education. It shows my children, students, and athletes that it’s never too late to make a difference, no matter what home you come from. It’s my reminder that I was created with the purpose of leaving an impact on today’s students. Seeing students excel and go chase their dreams, and being excellent community members wherever they may choose to live… To support other single parents and struggling families by providing outlets so they don’t feel like they're drowning every single day; to advocate for the needs of students and families who fall between the cracks… Well, that is the happy ending of this Hallmark movie in the making.

In January of 2019, there were two things on my mind. The first was the need to move my boys and me back to my hometown for a healthier life. The second was the pressure of figuring out how to be a single parent successfully. The last three years have been full of learning, growth, and plenty of trials. It has been hard, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. In these three years, I have volunteered in children’s ministry helping in worship, teaching lessons, and running summer camps and Vacation Bible School. I worked from social media so I could be home with my children every day to help them with the transition and also so we could go ‘do’ things together. This allowed us to have more dates at the park, which comes with teaching them how to interact with other kids, respecting others, and picking up trash to throw away even if it’s not your trash. I also partnered up with “Rally Around the Troops” to send care packages and love to our military and their families. This past fall, with both of my boys being in school, I accepted two new positions within our school district. I am a paraprofessional at our high school, and I coach high school cheer. Coaching in a small town is certainly not a high-compensation job, but being able to impact teenage girls through this stage of life is the heart of why I do it. Our mission statement is simple, “Be. The. Good!” Life isn’t always easy or fair, but we have a choice to react or respond. Be good when others aren’t kind. Be good when things get hard. Be good when we lose a game. Be good when things don’t go your way. Coaching allows me to have a small piece in helping these girls choose the kind of person they want to be in their families, in their communities, for the rest of their lives. It also allows my children to get to see me being involved in our community in more ways, and in turn, they are learning to serve their community as well. Teaching in the classroom opens an entirely new avenue of impacting the next generation of our community. Teaching special education allows me to combine it all together. My time working in the school has deeply rooted a passion for teaching in the special education department. I’ve been inspired by watching one teacher in particular in the way she loves and leads her class. She holds so much respect for each and every student, which allows them a safe environment to learn, ask questions, and grow. Getting my degree, as a 35-year-old single mother, teaches my children, my students, and maybe even other adults that it’s never too late to get started, or finish something you started long ago if you want to make a difference.

For the last few years, my ‘impact’ has been my focus. In everything I do, I look for how I can impact my children, community, environment. It’s no wonder that I desire to make a positive impact. I’ve been blessed by people who make an impact on my life. As a student, I had teachers, guidance counselors, and coaches always encouraging, always teaching, always pushing me to be my best. They helped shape me into who I wanted to be and my desire to work in education. However, there was one teacher in particular that truly impacted my desire to teach Special Education. If I may rewind a bit, my father joined the Marines after he graduated high school, and I was born shortly after. My mother took some accounting classes at a local community college for a while. Not that education wasn’t important to them, but my younger sister and I were the first ones to decide we wanted a four-year degree from a university. I had completed more than 120 credit hours of college but had to walk away in my final semester due to a personal hardship. In August, I started working as a paraprofessional in my at PHS. I’ve been in both settings of being in a classroom, helping my specific student as well as the others in the classroom, and in a private one-on-one class setting. The first classroom I was in was Fundamental Algebra, taught by Mrs. Becky Daniel. Every time we had Mrs. Daniel’s class, I grew more and more in love with how she rang her class. She deeply loved her students, and it’s no secret they love her classes. She will do anything within her power to help her students, with a peaceful nature to help ensure all students are able to succeed in learning in each of their own individual ways. I continue to study the way she leads her class. She is the biggest cheerleader for her students. Although she has a plan for every class each and every day of the year, she’s also one of the few teachers who take heart if the students need more time to truly grasp a concept. She would much rather ensure they have a firm grasp on each topic than rush through an agenda. Not only does it grow their trust in her, but it also allows them to learn all of the year’s work because they can truly build upon their skills at each step. I’ve been blessed to have many conversations with Mrs. Daniel about the classroom, from visual aids that help students learn coursework to communication tools to help students expand their thought processes. When I told her I was considering going back to finish my teaching degree, we both squealed with excitement! She was the first person I wanted to tell when I received my acceptance email for re-admission to complete the paraprofessional program through WIU to earn my teaching license. When she retires in a year and a half, she will certainly be missed by all. It has been watching her day in and day out, and her belief in me, that has truly rooted a deep love and appreciation for special education. Each day I teach, I will do my best to have as much of a peaceful and encouraging environment for my students as she has had for hers. Who knows, as she retires and I finish my degree, maybe I’ll pick up where she left off in the same classroom. Anything is possible. That’s her impact. That’s her legacy. Anything is ALWAYS possible.

If you have ever had a surge of energy rush through your veins, sweat breaking through your hairline, and a slight nervous shake in your hands as you made a decision, then you and I have a lot in common already! That was the sensation I felt as I graduated high school full of dreams of teaching in education. That sensation came back when I found out I was pregnant with my first pregnancy, again when my second pregnancy became my firstborn, and once more with my surprise baby, finding out he was coming and in just six short months! In August, that ‘surge’ returned when I started working as a paraprofessional at my old high school. I dreamed of returning to complete my degree, but how? I’m raising two littles on my own, working full-time in the school, coaching the cheer team year-round, and volunteering in the children's ministry. I couldn’t leave my job to finish. That all changed with an email from WIU with news of a program for paraprofessionals to finish a teaching degree while still serving their schools during the school year. My heart broke when I had to walk away from college with being one semester away from graduating with a Physical Education degree and teaching license. I had 125 credit hours and had been on the Dean’s List when I needed to step away due to a divorce. Even still, I have always looked for ways to continue learning. I have read books by incredible authors on various subjects to learn how the same subjects and categories are being taught and utilized in different ways as our world progresses through the vast amount of technology. I have continued to always work on improving myself so that I can be the best mother to my boys, the best servant to our church, and now the best coach to my team and aide to my co-workers. The moment you stop learning, you get left behind. The moment you stop working to be better, your impact on the world starts to dwindle. You just can’t afford to stop learning, growing, or working on being better. Life is far too short to give up, ever. Working in the school district reminds me why I wanted to teach. I’ve had the honor to work both in classroom settings with several students to help, as well as working one-on-one with a student in a private classroom setting. Many students see school as an escape from the world around them. With social media, unhealthy home environments, and broken families, sometimes the most love and encouragement they get in the day comes from the teachers who work with them. They need teachers who believe in them, refuse to give up on them and pour positivity into them. Yes, we teach them educational materials, and that is crucially important. The environment they learn in, however, is equally important. If we show them the importance of always learning something new, growing forward, and refusing to settle, they too will pursue a lifestyle of learning. The impact these students have on my heart, mixed with my desire to continue learning, fuels me to teach the decades ahead full of students. That surging energy is stronger than ever. I am as much of a ‘non-traditional student’ as you can get. I’m 35 years old and a single mom of two, but it’s all the more opportunity to show my children and our students that there’s always something to learn, and it’s never too late to go for more!

Going back to school in my thirties is something that took a lot of soul searching to finally decide to move forward with. I look around at our youth ages, and I see the trauma and hardships they go through. They come to school for an escape, a chance to learn, and that opportunity to grow forward. In today's world, there is an increasingly larger need for teachers, substitutes, and paraprofessionals. As that need continues to grow, the current staff is stretched so thin, that they find themselves in survival mode, instead of thriving and impacting mode. I have a passion for youth, and helping them not only learn educational materials, but grow in who they are and what difference they want to make in their own lives, their community, and the world around them as a whole. When I cross the graduation stage, there will be four goals I'm celebrating. First, I'm finally completing this phase of my education and proving to myself that I can do it, and I can do it well. The second goal is personal. I'm a single mother of two boys that are in preschool and 1st grade this year. Graduating college, with them watching completes the goal of showing them it's never too late to make a difference and do the work you need to do. Professionally, this opens up the door to teach in the same schools I attended as a student myself, and helping shrink that gap of needing educators. We have a small hometown community, and I want to help it grow and succeed. Lastly, graduating from Western Illinois University as the Class of 2024, a full 20 years after graduating high school, I will be able to check off my mission statement goal on a higher level. Be the good. Be a pineapple. No matter how challenging or scary, or unknown a situation may be.. I choose to be tough on the outside, sweet on the inside, and be the good that our world needs more than ever. All of this is proof, that with God, anything is possible, and for our youth, it's more than worth doing it!