The person who has been my biggest inspiration in life is my father. At just 14 years old my father was in a horrible all terrain vehicle accident. He was struck by a Chevy Trailblazer while on a four-wheeler and instantly knocked unconscious. He was rushed to the hospital and life flighted to Kansas City. He was in an unresponsive coma for a week , sustained a traumatic brain injury, and many more injuries to his legs. Every doctor who cared for him told my grandparents my father would be lucky to even live, and if he lived would have a hard time graduating high school and more than likely not walk again. When he finally got discharged and sent home he was learning different shapes and colors. He had the knowledge of a kindergartener and was in a wheelchair as well. By the winter of his freshman year not only was he walking but he was starting on his varsity basketball team. By his senior year he had received a basketball scholarship to Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri. The kid who would more than likely not walk again played college basketball. The kid who was also supposed to have a hard time graduating high school went to college for over ten years. The kid who was learning different shapes and colors his freshman year of high school now has a Specialist Degree in Education is the superintendent at the high school he graduated from and has successfully coached basketball, softball, and baseball for many years. Not only has my dad inspired me but he inspires everyone who hears his story. My father did the unthinkable and overcame the obstacles that were thrown his way. Every doctor who cared for him did not think he was going to live let alone become as successful as he is today. I am hoping to follow in his footsteps, start out in education and with time become a school administrator. I would also like to become a high school coach and coach basketball and softball in the way my father has. I am so lucky to have someone so accomplished to look up to. Someone strong enough to overcome a life threatening wreck, sustain traumatic injuries and still receive a basketball scholarship and graduate college with a specialist degree. My father is by far my biggest inspiration and I am so lucky to call him dad.

I believe that being involved in your community is so important! Community involvement not only betters your character but also helps to strengthen your community. I come from a very small town in rural Missouri with a population of 350. I feel spending my entire nineteen years in a town this small has really taught me a lot about community involvement. Over my years I have dedicated many volunteer hours to my hometown. I have helped the Hume Alliance Ministry with food pantry distributions handing out food to people in need within the community. I have volunteered countless hours performing as an aid in many of my schools elementary classrooms as well as taking personal time to tutor children. There have been other things such as cleaning up the park, painting the arena fence, umping the summer league softball/baseball games and so on. Following receiving my Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education. I hope to be able to come back to my rural school and teach anywhere from kindergarten to eighth grade. As a fifth generation graduate from Hume High School I feel this is so important to me and has always been my dream. My father also started his career in education as the Physical Education teacher at Hume. He has worked his way up and is now the superintendent. There are so many different ways to explain how community involvement is important. I feel small towns teach you a lot about this. I have learned over my years that it takes a village. Never in my life have I been in a bind and a member of my community not be there to lend a hand. Hume is a very close knit community and I am glad to be a part of a town like this. So many life lessons come out of community involvement.

Becoming a teacher is something I have wanted to do my entire life. It has always been something I am very passionate about and I come from a long line of educators. I spent all of my free time from 8th grade to my senior year helping in my school's kindergarten and preschool classrooms. I have over fifty hours of charted voluntary tutoring in the kindergarten classroom and many more uncharted hours. However, I was always concerned about the income of an educator. Due to always being worried about my future income I was seeking a higher paying job. I have spent this last year majoring in dental hygiene at Missouri Southern State University. With lots of thoughts and careful consideration I have decided to change my major to elementary education and transfer to Iowa State University. I have used my first year of college as what I am calling a learning experience. I now understand that if you force yourself to go into something solely based on the major over something you have always wanted to go into you will more than likely be miserable. You have to chase after what you want and not what your bank account wants. With my education my end goal is to become a Kindergarten teacher at a small rural area school in Missouri like the one I was brought up in. I am not limiting myself to kindergarten as my degree will be K-8 but, Kindergarten has always been my dream. I have also wanted to teach in a rural area school in Missouri because I feel they are so important and easily overlooked. I spent preschool clear through my senior year at Hume R-8 High School, a rural school in west central Missouri. I was the fifth generation to graduate from Hume. Hume was also where my father started his career in education as a physical education teacher, he is now the Superintendent. I hope to follow in my father's footsteps and continue into the career I have always been passionate about and that is why education is important to me.