Passion is the reason behind everything I do. It is the reason I triple-check every assignment. It’s the reason I mentor robotics students on weekends. It’s the reason I get excited when my friends ask me to look over their essays before they submit them. It’s the reason I want to be an educator. My family dubbed me “a fountain of useless knowledge” as a child, due to my love of trivia and fun facts. Now, I go to weekly trivia nights with my friends where that “useless knowledge” can come in handy. I also love being able to share my knowledge to help others. For this reason, I mentor two robotics teams in my hometown. I get to teach students the ins and outs of wiring a robot. I have passed on my know-how regarding planning electrical boards, crimping connectors, and soldering wires. I adore watching the gears in their heads turn as we work together to solve problems. I love seeing their faces light up when they learn something new. Getting to grow the students’ passions for the team and technology through my own passion has been an invaluable experience. It took me a long time to realize that I wanted to take this degree path, to become an English teacher. Now, with each passing day, I become even more convinced it’s what I want to do with my life. A self-professed grammar nerd, I have been the go-to friend for essay advice since middle school. I am always excited to read something over and help someone further develop their ideas. I hope to take that same energy into my classroom in the future. I want to provide a safe space similar to those created by my previous English teachers. I want my students to learn to read and think critically, but also to thrive by living lives that they love. I cannot wait to create a classroom where students can grow both academically and individually. One teacher in particular also contributed heavily to my desire to be a teacher. When I walked into Mrs. Habiger’s journalism elective class on my first day of my freshman year of high school, I would never have believed that four years later I would be leading a class in that room as the editor-in-chief of the school’s newspaper. After all, I was anxious and afraid to speak up in a group. I worked hard but I kept my head down. Working under Habiger in the newsroom changed me. She took my love of writing and copyediting and transformed me into a class leader by my senior year. I taught my peers, some in my grade, and most underclassmen, how to schedule and conduct interviews, choose quotes for a story, and develop their ideas. I stood at the front of the classroom each day, welcomed everyone, and told the group what needed to get done each day. I worked with Habiger to assign stories and deadlines to students, and occasionally to figure out how to discuss issues with struggling students. I learned more about what it means to be a leader, and I saw some of the ins and outs of being a teacher. I’m so thankful Habiger saw my potential and mentored me throughout high school. Thanks to her, I can confidently say that I am meant to be in the classroom.

I know it is cliche, but I believe that success is when you aim to be the best version of yourself. Success is when you can go to sleep each night happy with who you are as a person and what you have achieved. Success does not mean that every day has to be perfect – there should be some bumps along the way – but it does mean making as much effort as you can every day. I think I should make that effort in a classroom. I know it is where I am meant to be. Education and learning are a couple of my biggest passions, along with reading and writing. I’m majoring in secondary English education. That means that if everything goes according to plan, I will be an English teacher in just a few short years. I will get to use some of my biggest passions in my job each day. If that is not success, I do not want anything else. I do not want to burn out, though. I have a long history of people-pleasing and perfectionism. I’ve overworked myself to the point of making myself sick, and I want to learn from this past to have a better future. I do not want to hurt myself or lose my love for the career path I aspire to take. I’m learning to say no and to prioritize myself, both important parts of success. Over the past year, I’ve taken up hobbies like cooking and crochet. Both are arts that help me relax and produce products that don’t have to be perfect for me to be proud of and enjoy. They also help me create things I can share with loved ones. For me, all the success in the world does not matter if you do not have people to share your joy with. I hope and aim to have a good work-life balance; I think that is incredibly important for my success and my mental health. If I can work to have good mental health, close loved ones, and a career I love, I will be successful. It’s no secret that teachers aren’t paid well, but that’s not what I want to get out of my future job anyway. Money does not equal success in any way, and I am beyond excited to make a difference in my country’s schools. I cannot wait to build my future classroom into a safe place for students to be themselves. I want to create a classroom environment that not only fosters learning, but also trust and personal growth. However, my program does not pay student teachers at all, a stressful fact for someone like me, planning for their future. I’ll spend four semesters in local classrooms, shadowing and student teaching. Near the end of my college experience, I’ll be student teaching nearly full-time, but without compensation. That will take time and energy away that I could use for a job that will help me pay my rent, pay off my loans, and save for my future. Every bit helps, and this scholarship would make it easier for me to focus on my studies and students and less on my bank account. I could work even harder to be the teacher I want to be.

Whenever I wake up, the first thing I do is let my dogs outside. Crash, my family’s seven-year-old poodle mix, sleeps in my bedroom, and Lil, our nearly 12-year-old Yorkshire terrier, sleeps with my little sister. Letting them out of our rooms in the morning and hearing their paws on the hardwoods as they race down the stairs brings me a little bit of joy to start each day. As I park my car when I get home from school, they wait behind the screen door, all happy barks and smiles. No matter the kind of day I’ve had, seeing them waiting for me to come back home never fails to elevate my mood. My family adopted Crash on June 30, 2016, the summer before I started sixth grade. My sister and I had been begging our parents for what seemed like forever. Finally, after seeing how well we did dog-sitting for our uncles, they agreed. We spent months looking at different shelters and organizations, trying to find a dog that would be a good fit. It was important to all of us that we got a rescue dog instead of buying one, and we had two cats at the time as well, so we had to be sure our dog would be well-behaved around them. Eventually, my mom’s coworkers started fostering three seven-month-old puppies, one of which was Crash. After a few weeks, my parents told my sister and me to get in the car, but wouldn’t tell us where we were going. About an hour later, much to our surprise, we were bringing Crash home. When my family adopted Lil in February 2021, it was a very different story. Lil was our seventh foster, after Bunny, Steve, Vixie, Dobby, Sadie, and Zeus. All of these dogs had left a lasting impact on us, but Lil even more than the others. She was an older dog who had been given up by her elderly owner, who was preparing for their own end-of-life arrangements. At ten years old, it was hard to find people who were interested in Lil. After about a month, my family decided to officially adopt her. She ended up being another perfect fit for our family. Crash and Lil have had an undeniably positive impact on me. They’ve helped me with both my physical and mental health. When I ran Cross Country in middle school, I would take Crash with me for the first mile of my runs, before dropping him off at home to complete them. Now that he is older, Crash has some health issues that prevent him from going on long walks or runs. However, my sister and I are still able to take him and Lil on short walks around the neighborhood, which allows us time to both get fresh air and bond in between our busy schedules. Aside from exercise, my dogs are incredibly beneficial to my mental well-being. It’s not uncommon for me to finally go to bed long after the rest of my family, and I spend countless hours each week doing homework or at practice and competitions. I enjoy all of my academic endeavors, but I am often left stressed due to my busy schedule. Thankfully, just like the rest of my family, my dogs support my mental health. They never hesitate to lick my face or lay down next to me. Even though these actions may seem small, they never fail to lift my spirits. My dogs have vastly improved the quality of my life, and I will always be grateful for having them.