The first time my heart began feeling weird was my freshman year of highschool during softball practice for my school. I didn't think anything of it and simply thought I was having a cramp, but I was wrong. The more I played and ran around, the more my heart began to hurt, along with my chest areas around it. I brought it up to my uncle and aunt, who I live with, and it was a much bigger deal than I thought. Originally, I never lived with my uncle and aunt. It was always me, my mom, and my sister. I was nine years old when I got the worst news of my life, that my mom had passed away in the hospital after being transferred from her work. Autopsies later showed that she suffered a Cardiac Arrest, which was caused from a heart issue. Shortly after she passed, my sister and I had to get our hearts checked. They didn't find anything abnormal in either of our hearts, but it was definetly something to keep watch of. I started playing softball at the age of eleven, and I'm now eighteen. When I was younger, my heart or chest never had any weird feeling to it and I was always able to run around like normal for however long I wanted to. The day that my heart began feeling weird, it was noticeable from my teammates and coaches. Luckily for me, after getting my heart checked, there wasn't anything severely wrong with it. I am so grateful to not have any major condition, but having something to keep watch of still affects me. I wouldn't say my heart is completely healthy, which is definetly something that can spark anyone's emotion since your heart is your main source of living. With being a student athlete, it's an even bigger thing to keep an eye on with how active I am. With that, I have told all my coaches about it which keeps be from doing everything to my full potential. I can't run all the time with my teamates, I have to get subbed out if I even looked tired, and I have to keep track of what I eat and drink and how my heart feels throughout the day. In total honesty, it's a little tiring to have to deal with and keep track of and I wish it would all go away. I know that I don't have a full diagnosed condition, and I know there are people out there who have it worse than me and have had to completely disgard their sport from their lives. I am extremely grateful for still being able to play my sport, even if it's not to my full potential, and I want to continue to play throughout college and represent what isn't represented now.

Math wasn't always my strong suit. There were times in my middle school/high school career where math almost seemed impossible for me to do. I saw math just as numbers and problems that I didn't want to solve or do because it was too difficult. That was until I entered my sophomore year of math, where I took Algebra 2. The year before, I took geometry and I honestly struggled. I feared taking Algebra 2, and I feared failing. My overall love for math came from my teacher that year. He showed me math in ways that I've never seen before, and he made it fun for me to do. It was rare for me to have my feelings changed on something due to a teacher, but mine that year truly left an impact. He made math not just a solo thing, but a group activity where he made it fun and as if we were working as a team. He changed my perspective on the subject, and even now in my senior year, I still feel the same way. In the future after I graduate, I hope to become a teacher and teach our future generation. I love learning math, and I hope to teach it to children in my future classrooms. I don't want to teach math as just equations, I want to teach it as an overall life skill. Many kids nowadays state that math "won't be needed" in the future. I disagree, I believe that math is more than just letters and numbers, it gives us meaning of life. The feeling of being able to solve a difficult equation is a feeling that none can really compare.

Growing up in a troubled household to begin with was tough, not only on me but also my older sister. In my first house, it was my mom, dad, and sister. Things were normal until I was five years old, when my dad left us for another family. Processing that at such a young age was difficult, it never hit me til later on in life. But growing up, I'd notice little things that I still remember to this day. The day my dad left, although it sounds hard, it was like things were better for us. Eventually we moved out, but it went downhill from there. My mom found us a small condo, enough room to fit the 3 of us. She'd go to work every day around 5 a.m., and she'd kiss us goodbye before her long shift. Days seemed long, since majority of the day it would only be my sister and I. When we weren't in school, she'd take care of me all day. She'd feed me, play with me, and do the things I liked to pass time. My sister was practically my second mother. Although I saw my mom every day, it often didn't feel like she was my primary caretaker. This effected me a lot, especially after her passing. My mom passed away the summer before my 4th grade year. Again, being that young I didn't know how to process it, but it later hit me when I grew older. Of course I loved my mom, but again sometimes it felt like I didn't see her as much due to work. I was always grateful for how much work she was putting in to keep us stable and have food on the table, but ever since she's been gone I wish she hadn't worked herself so much. A part of me wishes that I could go back in time and help her out, even though I was only nine years old. Her death made me feel guilty, because if she hadn't gone to work that morning then who knows what could have happened. Growing up with a single parent made me realize how much sacrafice there is in life. She sacraficed going to college to take care of us, and later on in her life she realized she wanted to go back to pursue her dreams, but her life was taken too soon. Her death and how she worked as a single mom made me realize my career path, she made me realize that I want to help people and make an impact on others at the same time. Her death taught me to never take anything for granted, and I'm hoping to keep that same mentality when I begin my career, teaching.

Just like any other child, I had a mom and a dad. I grew up in a loving household or so I thought, with my parents and my sister. When I was younger, maybe around four years old, I'd often hear arguing. Arguing, screaming, crying; a bunch of things a four year old child should not hear come out of her own parent's mouths. Officially at five years old, that's when my dad left my mom. I vividly remember the day, my mom was painting my sister and I's nails when she had to step away when my dad got home. I remember hearing yelling and ruckus while my sister and I rushed to our room to hide. I never saw my dad again after that day. Although I "lost" my dad, he wasn't the true significant loss I had in my life. My family struggled alone. It was always my mom and sister with me with no one else to help. There'd be days where it was a struggle to put food on the table, or we'd use whatever stocked up coupons we had to get a little meal from McDonald's. But at the end of the day my mom always found a way for us, even if that meant she had nothing. My mom meant a lot to me. Of couse like any struggling, working, single mom of two, she'd have her outburst moments but she never did anything to harm us. She always made sure to protect us from anyone or anything, and had determination to get to a stable point in her life for her kids. In August of 2017, my sister was 13, and I was 9. About a year or so before this, my mom met her boyfriend. His name was Jeremy and I treated him like a dad. He was good to my mom, and even more good to us. He never saw my mom any differently because we were there, and that's what I liked the most about him. One day, he came to our small condo and told us our mom was sick. Making my way over to the hospital in his big truck, I thought she just had a fever. I thought wrong. There she was, laying on the hospital bed with tubes plugged all over her. I was confused, and I didn't know why this was happening. A week after she was in the hospital, we had to take my mom off of life support as it was doing nothing for her. Losing a mom hurt like nothing I've ever experienced before. Although I was young, it still affects me to this day now that I am 18. Her loss has shaped who I am today, as it has shown me to never take anyone for granted. Before she passed, she was going back to college to persue her career in radiology to become an ultrasound tech. Her death influenced my goals in life because even though things were hard before with college, she still chose to go back in order to better her life along with mine. When I see moms out in public with daughters, many may think I am jealous, which a little part of me is but mainly, I am grateful to have experienced a mother and daughter relationship although it was cut short. My mom taught me a lot of things in life, both before and after her death and I am eternally grateful for the person she was, and the mom she was to my sister and I.

I have always been a fan of The Wizard of Oz. I was introduced to that movie in sixth grade when I took my first year of choir, and we listened to the songs while learning them and I fell in love with the movie. Later in my middle school years, I learned about the Broadway show Wicked. I would watch clips of it posted online and I even brought up the idea to learn some songs to my choir teacher. Now of course, those songs were extremely hard to learn for my eighth grade choir class but we still gave it a try and had fun while doing it. Now being a senior in high school and Wicked: For Good coming out, it feels like my childhood love has came true. Also while growing up like any child would, I watched a lot of TV. My favorite channels were Disney and Nickelodeon, but mainly Nickelodeon. Watching Nickelodeon in 2012-2016, many learned of the actress Ariana Grande. Ariana Grande is a hit singer/songwriter but also an actress. I fell in love with her character, "Cat" both in Sam and Cat and Victorious along with her music at the time. Safe to say, since I was about 6 years old, Ariana Grande has been my number one artist of all time. When I learned that she would be one of the main characters in my favorite musical for a movie, I couldn't believe it and I knew it would become my favorite movie. When Wicked first came out, the first movie trails back before the events of The Wizard of Oz. The first movie represents the power of friendship and enemies, and who is better for you as a person. Glinda or Galinda shows how she is from the start. She loves being the center of attention and wants to be a witch in Madame Morrible's class. Elphaba on the other end didn't want to go to Shiz to begin with but caught attention right away due to her skin and powers. The movie teaches the viewers about the power of right and wrong, and how people should be treated no matter how they look or where they're from. I've learned a lot from the two Wicked movies, mainly having to do with friendship. You shouldn't care what people think of you and your friend because at the end of the day, if your friend is good to you and others, it shows who they truly are as a character. Friendship portrays a huge part in the story of Wicked, and it's something I get to experience every day and learn from.

My grandfather, as I call him Lolo, served in the Navy before my mom was born. My grandpa has always been a huge figure in my life since there have been multiple occasions where my sister and I have lived with them throughout our lives. My grandpa has taught me so much about life and daily skills and he doesn't even know it. My grandpa was born in the Philippines in 1942. He moved over to America when he was around 20 years old with his parents and here he met my grandma, or as I call her Mama, where he then enlisted into the Navy shortly after. When most people think of the Navy, they often think of SEALS and people who operate ships. My grandpa on the other end, had a different task than most. Although he was still enlisted in the Navy, he had the opportunity of being a chef. My grandpa has always loved to cook, even while he was younger. He told me he learned a lot from his mom which sparked his interest even more. While on the ships and overseas, he was the chef of the ocean and learned many things from his former friends aside from cooking. He learned the importance of taking care of others when they weren't able to take care of themselves and what it was like to live on a ship with a bunch of people, most the time meeting a new person every single day. In total, he learned a lot about life that he passed onto his kids, which was also passed onto me and my siblings. After retiring from the Navy, my grandparents had already been married and were starting their family. They had my mom and my uncle and years and years later, I was born. I would practically see my grandpa every single day throughout elementary school. My mom worked early mornings so she'd drop my sister and I off at my grandparents house so they could take us to school. Every single morning, my grandpa would cook breakfast for us where I often watched what he'd make. The go-to's were pancakes, eggs, and some sort of meat. I watched and learned how he'd crack open the egg or stir the ingredients every single day until I practically memorized our daily breakfast menu. Occasionally, he'd also verbally teach me things, show me what to do and what not to do in the kitchen. He taught me so much about cooking even though I was young, and I still remember all of it to this day. When I was nine years old, my mom suddenly passed away from a cardiac arrest. No one saw it coming, and it was an extreme shock to my entire family. My grandparents were the first to step in, making sure we had a roof over our head. Shortly after, my uncle and aunt stepped in and got legal guardianship over my sister and I. During that long process of court cases and legal paperwork, my grandparents watched over us. My grandpa would still do the same thing, and cook for us every single day even when he had just lost his own daughter. Overall, my grandpa learned a lot from the Navy and taught it down to us. He still cooks to this day, often for holidays or random lunch meals where he'll call us over to eat. He has a passion for something that he got to pursue in his career, and passed the love for cooking down to me. I am eternally grateful for him.

I will never forget the day hearing my sister scream, cry, and yell, about how she was feeling. All of her bottled up feelings came out, pouring out of her voice. That day changed me forever, and made me realize things I didn't even know existed. It was 2017, and our mom had recently passed away. I was only 9, and my sister was 14. At that time, I didn't understand the concept of death. I didn't have the reaction everyone around me was having; although it was my own mom. I knew she was leaving, but I didn't know she'd be gone forever. I went home that day numb, almost in a blank. Even today I don't exactly remember going home, it's like I was blacked out. I didn't realize how much of a toll this took on my sister, every time I'd see her she'd act normal. She hid how she was feeling, she put a mask over her depression, for me. She didn't want to show how she actually felt, even though deep down she was crippling with something that no one should go through. It was until the day where I was in my sisters room, like any other day. We were sitting on her bed while I watched her play on her phone. I noticed how she always wore long sleeve shirts, even though it was late August. She rustled around in her bed, making her sleeve come up. That's when I saw them. Cuts, scars, dried up blood on her wrists. I deep pit formed in my stomach, wondering why my sister was being harmed. The last person I thought who did that to her would be herself. I asked her about it, and like anyone would, she told me it was an accident. Again, being nine years old, I didn't know what they were. I brushed it off, believing her lie, and went on with my days. Then came one of the worst days of my life. I overheard yelling and crying, coming from my sister's voice. She yelled out words, how she didn't want to be here, how she hated her life, and how she just wanted to be with our mom. I ran into the room, seeing her crying and yelling at my uncle and aunt, who we lived with after our mom passed. She was in complete distress, screaming out everything she's had inside of her for the past few weeks. It was that day, and the many instances that happened that have made me realize what mental health truly is. It's different for everyone, but a common similarity is hiding it behind something or someone that isn't true. When I look at my sister today, I still see the person I saw before. The depressed, cut up, crying teenager who I never want to see again. She's grown now, but that situation has taught me to always check up on people no matter how happy they may look. You never truly know what's going on with someone until you ask, and keep up with them consistantly.

Everyone gets asked as a kid, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Many said doctor, astronaut, NFL player, etc. But as a child, I always said teacher. I knew what I wanted to be all while people downplayed the profession. When I was younger, I didn't think teachers had to do much. I thought all they had to do was go to class, teach, and go home. Although at the time it seemed like very little work, in reality, it was so much more than that. In my freshman year of high school, I saw that there was an elective choice for a class called Teaching and Training. Ever since my freshman year, I've been in the class learning about the profession. I went into the class expecting the least, I thought that learning about teaching would be something easy. But in that class, we went deep diving into the profession. We learned all about the history and the overall start of education. All while learning about the past, I started to become more interesed about it. It was fascinating on how much history education has, and how that has helped what it's become today. One thing that sparked me was the history of special education. We learned about how people with disabilities were denied of education, simply just because they weren't like "normal" children. That inspired something in me, because it wasn't just kids with disabilities. People who were different in general, they all were treated differently when all they wanted was an education. These different instances showed me there is more to education, there is more to just learning, there were so many people denied of learning just because they were different. I wanted to be part of a change for that. I wanted to have a class that is open to all people, and most of all make sure they are comfortable in the class. I remember my 4th grade class, it was the year that my mom had passed away. Although I was young, I was going through a lot that no child should go through. Then came my 3rd grade teacher from the year before. She heard about what happened and was there for me from the start. I even remember an instance when she took me home, because I was left at school on accident. I know that was probably not allowed, but she was there for me when I didn't know how to talk to anyone about how I was feeling. I want to be that teacher that is there for everyone, I want to be the type that anyone feels comfortable talking to, even if they aren't my own student. Knowing that I had at least one teacher that made me feel extra comfortable, it inspired me to be the exact way.

Softball has taught me so many things, both mentally and physically. My name is Ava Gonzales and I am 17 years old and I've played with the same travel ball team since I started travel ball. I originally started softball when I was 11 years old. I fell in love with it the first time I put a glove on my left hand and a ball in my right. I started softball stress free, with nothing to worry about. I learned the game, both the mental aspects along with the physical. I got better and better every day that I practiced, and soon I made my way up to travel ball. I started travel ball in 2022, and I've loved it ever since. I grew up with a lot of undiagnosed anxiety, most people would say it's shyness when I knew it wasn't. I was extremely scared of talking to new people, and ulimately it made it hard to play as a team. If you didn't know, softball is impossible to play with 1 or 2 people. Softball is an extreme team sport, of course you'd need 9 people physically but you also need 9 people mentally. I tried my best to break out of my shell, and when I met the right people it helped on another level. Throughout my life, I never truly had a best friend. Of course I had friends, but I was never close enough with someone that I could call a best friend. Then, I met my best friend Leeah. I was in 8th grade when I met her, we both were in the same class but we didn't know we each played softball. One day, the middle school season started and we both walked into school with our softball bags. We immediately clicked, and became bonding over the sport. That was back in 2021, and we are attached at the hip now. She has been with me through so much, and I've been there for her during her hardest times. With that, I have learned that softball can bring you the best people in your life. Aside from my best friend, I have also met a lot of other girls with the same hobby along with the best coaches possible. I have met so many different people during my career, and I am so grateful for it on another level. I've traveled around the country, meeting strangers during camps then never seeing them again after that. Although that sounds sad, it's some of the best experiences I've had in my life. I have had the opportunity to meet so many people from so many cities and I will remember that for the rest of my life. Aside from the happy side, there was always ups and downs for me during softball. I have fell into sports depression multiple times, often making me want to quit the sport forever. Softball has shown me so much on my mental side, and through all the negative times it taught me to remember that softball is just a game, and it shouldn't take up my whole life. Softball has been a journey for me, and I'm hoping to continue this journey throughout college. I have toured 2 schools so far, and the biggest issue with going to one of them is money. I have decided which college I like more, but I need to work more to get more money to attend that school. My dream is to play college softball; this sport has shaped and changed me in so many ways that I want to continue.

When I was yonger, I've always wanted to become a teacher. When I was younger, the only reason I wanted to be a teacher was to decorate a room. I'd picture the perfect room, with the perfect decorations, and myself standing in front of a group of kids teaching them all kinds of things. Now that I'm older, I've learned the absolute privilege of being able to teach people of all ages. Growing up in Las Vegas, NV, I've learned about how short staffed every school in my area was. Whether they were in need of a Social Studies teacher or just a substitute, every school in CCSD (Clark County School District) was short staffed. Once I got into High School, I began to take an elective called Teaching and Training. To be honest, I took it because it was one of the "easier" electives to take in my school. I soon learned that that wasn't the truth, it was quite difficult but I loved it. I learned a lot about what it means to be a teacher and what goes on behind the scenes. I continued to take this class all throughout high school - my junior and senior year being a college level teaching class. During my junior year, my class made a trip to an elementary school since our class was focused on elementary education. I fell in love with the idea of teaching elementary school as I watched it happen in real time. We monitored different grade levels, and I was assigned 4th grade. I really enjoyed learning what the teacher did as a teacher, and how she taught this grade level. I took this idea and wanted to do more with it. I searched up volunteer work for daycares or anything that involved teaching and unfortunately I wasn't able to do most of the jobs since I am not 18 yet. But, I didn't let that stop me and I kept working towards it. I then remembered that my softball coach worked at a daycare, and has been working there for nearly 5 years. I asked her if there was a way to help out and come see how it is during the summer, and sooner or later her boss let me and I was about to get my first hands on experience with teaching. Although the kids that I worked with were very young, I still got to do things that normal elementary teachers would do. I read to them, put them down for naps, fed them, and just took care of them like most kindergarten or pre-school teachers do in their daily lives. I really liked the idea of teaching and taking care of kids while their parents are busy or at work, so it's something I continued to do mostly throughout the summer. Doing this, I really enjoyed giving back to my community even though I still am young and 17. These actions have fed into my want for teaching even more, and have prepared me for what I want to do in the future. With this scholarship, it'll help in so many ways for when I go to college. I am a student-athlete, and have already toured 2 schools out of state. The biggest issue for me is finance and living situations. Both schools have dorms, but the one school I am more interested in is around $33,000 per semester. This is ulimately my dream school, and it has a great education program that I want to pursue in. Along with FAFSA, this scholarship will help incredibly and will support my teaching career in the future.

Mental health can have a wide variety among people. When I was younger, I don't recall a moment in time where I truly sat down with someone and told them how I felt. Even after my mom passed away when I was nine years old, I was numb and never showed any emotion about it, the only time I cried the year of her death was when she was being taken off life support, taking her final breath in a hospital bed while my older sister was crying every single day. Now I know people take things differently and show emotion in a million different ways, but the way I reacted to my own mother's death caused worrisom from my other family members. They'd always try to ask me how I was feeling, and the reocurring words coming out of my mouth like "fine" or "okay" were always the first, and I often kept quiet about how I actually felt about things. Now that has not changed whatsoever in my life, I still find it extremely hard to truly tell people how I feel and what's going on in my head and I rarely show emotion in hard situations. It's difficult to deal with, since I clearly know what's wrong and how I'm feeling, yet I can't ever get it out. That has caused multiple problems in relationships and most of the time I feel like I shouldn't be allowed to date due to how my brain works. It gets to the point where I clearly am bothered about something, but I can't get it out or I can't talk about it because I don't allow myself to when I know exactly what the problem is. It's caused a lot of struggle not only in romantic relationships but also family relationships. After my mom's passing, my sister and I moved in with my uncle and aunt, joining their three sons. Things have always been rocky between myself and my uncle and aunt, especially my uncle. They have often made me feel like I can talk to them about things, but at the same time when I do tell them things that are clearly important, they either brush it off or lecture me about it. Living with that isn't healthy, especially for someone who is still young and growing into an adult. It makes me not want to talk to them even on a normal basis, because I am scared about their reactions to it. That has caused a major problem with the mental health issues I've already had, and it honestly makes everything worse. With that, I also play a sport. A lot of the times people think that sports is just a physical game, you have to be the fittest and strongest to be the best at the sport you play when in reality, sports are all mental. For instance, I play softball and I've played for the past seven years of my life. You could be the strongest person with the best swing or the best throw but if you have bad mental health, it could all go downhill. Mental health plays such a big part in my games, recently it has been the absolute worst but I am pushing through it to get committed to a college. My mental health has decreased insanely these past couple years, and what I've learned is how to mask it. Masking mental health problems is extremely unhealthy and can worsen your problems more than it already is. I hope to learn and overcome these problems as I continue to grow, and I hope to never treat my future children how I was treated as well.

Growing up I've always been athletic and in sports. I started off with soccer, and played for about seven years. I loved it, but eventually had to get taken out for health reasons. Though I was only twelve when I got taken out of soccer, I still felt devistated and hopeless in my athletic career. That's when I wanted to find something new, and I discovered what softball was and immediately fell in love with it. I've made my way from recreational ball, to travel ball, and on the final stretch to make it to college softball. It might sound easy, but it has been a long journey that I'm hoping to continue on with. Soccer started off with interest by my mom, she wanted me to be in a sport since I loved to run and play around outside. She supported me like any parent would, but I always felt the most love from her. She'd make bows for my hair, and make sure I felt happy and rewarded after every game. She made me love this sport more than I already did myself, and it's something I never wanted to lose. Shortly after she passed, I got taken out of soccer for both health and money problems. Though I was devistated to lose the sport, I was lost without my biggest supporter. I was absent from sports for about a year before I discovered softball and how to play it. Right off the bat, I fell in love with it and played almost every single day. As of right now, I have already toured three colleges and I'm one step away from finally committing to a college. The journey of committing isn't easy, it's actually been one of the longest and hardest journey's of my life and I'm hoping to continue my career not only on the field and job wise, but also helping younger girls get through this process. I hope once I am settled in my career, I will have the time to possibly coach softball on my personal time, because I want to help and teach girls not only the meaning of the game, but also the process and work that comes behind it. I want to teach girls in the future my mistakes and things that helped me along my career, overall the do's and dont's. I plan to create a positive impact with people in the future and help them with the process that caused many emotions with me.

Growing up, it was always my mom, my sister, and myself. Of course, like everyone does, I also had a dad. But, there's always a difference between having a dad, and your dad being there. I had a dad, but he was never there. But, that's not who I lost in my life. I grew up going to school, playing outside, and spending time with family like most children in the world do. My favorite time was summer, because summer meant I'd spend all day long with my sister, who cooked for me, hung out with me, and did different activites with me to pass our boredom, while she was only twelve herself. Throughout that time, my mom was always at work, working so hard to stay comfortable to keep our condo and give us food to eat. The only times I'd see her during the summer was the morning before she went to work, when she'd come to kiss me and my sister goodbye while we were still asleep, and when she'd return late afternoon and often was very tired to do anything. I still remember to this day the last time that she kissed me goodbye. It was in the beginning of August, a little before school started. As any day in the summer, I woke up before my sister and turned on the television to watch my favorite cartoons while my sister still slept. At that time, my mom had a boyfriend who we practically treated as a father, or at least I did. I can still recall exactly what happened in the moment, mid-day, where my mom's boyfriend and her coworker walked through the doors with frightening looks on their faces, almost like they had something to say but they didn't want to say it. I remember hearing my mom's boyfriend saying, "Your mom is sick, she's in the hospital now and we need to go." Being eight years old, when I heard the word "sick" I thought it meant that my mom had a fever. While packing a bag for the hospital with all my books, crayons, and coloring pages, I looked over at my sister who was crying, confused, and worried. Arriving to the hospital, we walked into the lobby and I saw all of my family. I was overly confused and just wanted to see my mom to find out what was happening. I will never forget seeing my mom for the first time. Tubes everywhere, machines beeping, and the look on her face though she was asleep. It was something that a child should not see, especially on their mother. Throughout the next week, my mom fought for her life, but never woke up. At such a young age, I didn't understand death but later on in life it hit me with what happened. Her death shaped my life in so many ways, it changed my lifestyle completely. I still think about her every day, and I'm hoping to persue my dreams in memory of her. I look at people who talk bad about their mother's in pure jealousy, wondering why my mom isn't here anymore. I hate when things are said about her, though I love her memory staying alive, it hurts me so bad even hearing her name even if it isn't about her. She's shaped my life in so many ways, before and after her death. Her death has caused me to never take anything or anyone for granted, because you never know what can happen. I want to do everything for her, even though she isn't here anymore.

I want to pursue a career in education because it has always been a dream of mine. Since I was a little kid, I've always wanted to be a teacher solely to just decorate a room. Now that I'm older, I have learned so much about the history of education and what it truly means to be a teacher. Since my freshman year of high school in 2022 until now, I have been taking a class called Teaching and Training. In this class, I have learned about the start of teaching to present. I have learned the meanings of being a teacher and what they have to do to maintain 1-8 classes. There are so many levels to education, whether it's elementary, junior, high school, college, or special education. Learning all about the different levels and mechanisms that teachers used made me get my spark back into wanting to pursure education. I have had some pretty bad teachers in the past, and I've also had really great ones that not only helped me with school but along with outside of it as well. I want to be that teacher that students can learn from easily and feel comfortable enough with to talk to me about problems outside of school. I want to make learning experiences the best they can possibly be for my future students so they have the best time while also learning something important. I want to teach elementary school or high school seniors. I have learned a lot about elementary education and I believe that my knowledge on it will help me in the future. I think that elementary school is the start on how kids feel about school for the rest of their lives. I'd like for my students to have the best experience possible so that they go on with their education with a great mindset about school. In my own experience, I had a great 4th and 5th grade teacher which really made me like school and want to continue it. I would love to be that kind of teacher and it has always been a dream of mine. My other option would be high school seniors because speaking from experience, a lot of seniors lose motivation very early in the year. I'd like to build up senior's motivation early on so that they are excited for the future whether it's college or not. Overall, I have major interest in pursuing education with my life, even though it has a lot of criticism due to pay/money, that part never bothered me or made me change my mind on what I want to do.