"The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does great things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.” This quote by Ronald Reagan has always resonated with me because it reflects the way I strive to lead. I believe leadership is not about recognition but about inspiring others to make a positive difference. Throughout my life, I have worked to lead through service, inclusion, and community involvement. My passion for advocacy began in fourth grade when I organized and presented an assembly for my entire school about supporting students with disabilities. After seeing classmates struggle to understand how to include peers with differences, I wanted to help create a more accepting environment. That experience taught me that even a young person can create meaningful change and inspired me to continue using my voice to help others. This commitment led me to become involved with Unified Sports in sixth grade, even while attending school in another town. Since then, Unified has become one of the most meaningful parts of my life. As both a partner and now a coach, I have helped promote the program and its mission of inclusion. Unified Sports provides opportunities for students of all abilities to participate, compete, and build friendships. It has shown me that leadership is not about standing out but about helping others discover their own strengths and confidence. Watching athletes grow and succeed has been incredibly rewarding. At age fourteen, I decided to expand my efforts by competing in pageants. Rather than focusing on titles, I used the platform I gained to encourage community involvement and service. One of my proudest accomplishments was securing sponsorships to bring Sara’s Stories (partnership with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library) to my hometown; Proctor. Because of this effort, every child in town now receives an age-appropriate book each month. I also established a local distribution site for Everybody Eats, a program that provided meals to people facing food insecurity while supporting local restaurants during the pandemic. I also believe leadership is demonstrated through small acts of kindness. I have delivered cookies to local law enforcement officers, visited elderly residents in nursing homes, mentored a younger neighbor who shares my experiences with anxiety and Celiac Disease, and raised funds for causes important to me, including the CureJM Foundation. I also support the children’s hospital where I received treatment for Juvenile Dermatomyositis. The support I received during my diagnosis continues to inspire me to give back and help others facing challenges. In addition to community service, I have been actively involved in athletics, extracurricular activities, and academics. I was a four-year varsity soccer player and helped my team win two state championships while attending Proctor High School. I also spent three years on the varsity cheerleading team, serving as captain, and was selected to represent Vermont on the Shrine Cheerleading Team. Through sports, I discovered a passion for coaching and have volunteered with youth soccer clinics and youth cheerleading programs. I have also participated in theater, Youth Adult Partnership, and restorative practice initiatives. Despite my many activities, I have remained committed to academic excellence. I have earned Honor Roll recognition every year and was inducted into the National Honor Society as a junior. Of everything I have done, Unified Sports remains my favorite experience because it allows me to help others grow as leaders while building meaningful relationships. Leadership can take many forms, both big and small. Whether through advocacy, service, coaching, or simple acts of kindness, I strive to make a positive impact and encourage others to do the same.

Teachers change lives....I have had many teachers change mine and I want to do the same for as many of my future students as I can. Three teachers come to mind immediately when I think of those who have most impacted my life. The first teacher I think of is my mom. My mom has changed my life more than just being "mom" to me. She introduced me to the world of education and support students that are not always able to learn in traditional ways. Through her I became involved with Unified Sports and found my passion for helping students. I started in 6th grade being a partner in Unified and continued on through my senior year. After graduation I wasn't ready to also graduate from my involvement with unified sports, so I became a coach. Through my mom, I learned that all students belong and are able to contribute meaningfully in all areas. I learned that the students that are seen by some as "challenging", "difficult", or "unteachable" are in fact none of those things. All students belong and just need to be met where they are at. My mom is an amazing special educator and she has touched my life in countless ways and I know she has touched so many more. The second teacher that I think of is my history teacher, Mr. Curtis. Mr. Curtis was a special teacher. When I had some challenges at school, Mr. Curtis took it upon himself to reach out to me and to my mom in an effort to support me. That meant so much to me. Mr. Curtis also has a unique and fun way of approaching teaching. All students wanted to be in his class because everyone felt welcome there and felt like they were his favorite student. Mr. Curtis inspired me to attend college to become a secondary history teacher. I want to have a classroom that is as welcoming as his was and I have taken not of many of is interactive activities and traditions that I want to also have in my room one day. Sadly, Mr. Curtis passed away my senior year in high school and the world lost an amazing educator. I strive to make him proud and be the kind of teacher that he said he knew I could become. The third teacher was my 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Weinberg. She accepted me and my very big personality and occasional (or not so occasional) sass. She talked to me about my medical journey that I had been going through and made me feel supported. I called her my "school mom" because I knew she was the person I could turn to for anything. She is still involved in my life and helps to answer questions and give advice as I am navigating my college years. I only highlighted 3 teachers, I know there were so many, many more that have touched my life and I couldn't begin to tell you about all of them. They have all given me inspiration that will direct me in how I run my future class. I am excited to set my classroom up to welcome all learners and to meet them where they are at. I am excited to take activities from Mr. Curtis and modify them to be accessible for all students. I am excited to build connections like Mrs. Weinberg did with me. And I am excited to have so much passion and dedication to my students like my mom. I think all people should be a teacher, Ms. Humphries was absolutely correct!

I am in the process of obtaining a dual degree in History Secondary Education and Special Education. My mom is a special education teacher and I grew up idolizing her and the work that she did. When I was in 6th grade I was able to join one of my mom's unified sports teams. Here I was able to be introduced to some amazing students. It is also where my passion for helping people was able to flourish. Starting in preschool I had a classmate who is on the spectrum and I always was happy to help him in any way I could. In PE class, even though he wasn't on my team, I gave him another chance to score a goal. My team was very upset that I had done this and it bothered me tremendously. I spoke to my teacher about it and said I wished that I could teach everyone about how to accept and help people of all abilities. We decided that I would organize an assembly. I was able to conduct interviews, bring in a guest speaker and present information to my entire school....I was in 3rd grade and I was hooked! As I got older I knew that I wanted to work in a school. I was torn between english, history and special education. Fate stepped in my senior year in high school and helped me decide. My favorite teacher was killed in a car accident the night of my senior game for cheer. He was a history teacher who I witnessed include students of all abilities in his class. He welcomed a nonverbal student on the spectrum the same way he welcomed the valedictorian. He came up with creative ways to be inclusive. I had always admired him and the way he was able to make everyone feel an equal part of the class. The day that he passed away I decided I was going to do both things that he did....I was going to major in History and Special education. I am pulling from the things I saw him do and I hope that I will make him proud. I am very excited to begin my career, but for now I enjoy the opportunities that I have to help. I am currently the head coach for a Unified Bocce team and the assistant coach for the Unified Bowling and Unified Basketball teams. I have also been able to substitute as a paraeducator in a Life Skills program as well as their summer program. These opportunities continue to build my passion and excitement for this career choice. My hope is to have a classroom in a high school teaching history but use my special education license so that I can welcome any student and teach them where they are at. I hope to be able to provide a safe and comforting learning environment for all.

I have always had a passion for helping people. My mom is an amazing special educator and works with the low incidence population. I have learned from her early on that we can't limit people. Everyone can contribute in school (and life) and we just have to find their best way to be involved. Because of my mom, I began particpating in Unified Sports in 6th grade. Unified Sports brings together students with and without disabilities on the same team and works on building relationships as well as everything else that goes along with being on a sports team. I think I could write a whole essay by itself on my involvement in Unified Sports. It became a passion of mine and I was a partner for 7 years. I am now a coach for the Unified Bocce team and an assistant coach for Unified snowshoeing, basketball and bowling. I truly love it and love to see how meaningful it is to the students and their families. I knew in high school that I wanted to be a teacher. I was going back and forth between history and english. I love writing and talking about readings. I love history and learning what has happened to bring us to where we are today. I participated in Early College and wanted to use that year to make my decision. Little did I know, I would make that decision during my senior game for winter cheer. When I saw my mom before the game I could tell she was upset, but she said she was just sad about it being another last, my last time cheering in my high school gym. I went to the locker room to finish getting ready and checked my phone. I discovered my favorite teacher had passed away from injuries in a car accident. He was a history teacher. Not only did he teach me history, but he was the teacher that stepped out of the role of teaching and supported me as a battled a toxic relationship and disordered eating. He championed me through a very difficult time in my life. I credit him with helping me make it through and get to where I am now. When he taught history he made it come alive, using music, video and even theater. He was able to bring in "those kids" that so many teachers don't know how to include in their classrooms....truly include. I would say outside of my mom, he was most definitely my greatest influence in education. I am now working on getting my Bachelor's degree so that I can become a high school history teacher. Many people ask why I didn't choose special education. My response is, because I can do both. I plan to have a classroom where I of course teach history, but I teach it to anyone. Any child that walks through my door I want them to feel like they belong. I want to find where they are at and meet them there teaching them in the way that best meets their learning style and needs. While I miss Mr. Curtis every day, I am so thankful for the impact that he has had on my life. Between the influence of him and my mom paired with my passion for helping and teaching, I am so excited to see where my future in education takes me.

I am the very proud daughter of a special education teacher and unified sports coach. I have grown up seeing the benefits of giving back to your community and supporting others. In 6th grade I joined my mom's unified snowshoeing team. This team was at a different school and took a lot of organization and effort for me to get to it. But it was worth it! It started me down the path that would lead me to where I am today. Not only did that experience in 6th grade lead me to a very fulfilling 7 years as a unified partner, it also led to me coaching unified. My involvement in unified sports over the past 9 years has allowed me to give students with disabilities the opportunity to feel pride, sense of accomplishment, camaraderie and an overall sense of belonging. These are all things I experienced as a high school athlete that went a long way in shaping my high school experience. I am honored to have a part in making these experiences possible for a very special group of students. There are two events that I feel were very impactful; Sara's Stories and Everybody Eats. Sara's Stories is a group that was founded in honor of a woman who passed away from cancer. The group's mission was to provide high quality books to young kids. They ended up teaming up with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. When I learned about this group I reached out to them to see what it would take to get my small town on the list of towns that they serve. It came down to one thing....money. I was told if I could secure consistent sponsors then my town could be added. I was able to gain some individual sponsors, but it wasn't enough. I reached out to a local foundation. They committed to annually providing funds! Now, every child age 4 and under is sent a monthly book through Sara's Stories and the Imagination Library. I love the impact that this will have on these kids. During COVID the world changed. Problems that were once big, became HUGE. Businesses were closing down, families were struggling to eat; life was hard. I wanted to find a way to help and found a program called Everybody Eats. This program was about 20 minutes away from the town I live in and involved area restaurants making meals, to go style. They then brought the meals to the main distribution point and people drove through and collected meals for their family. I emailed the contact person for the program and let him know I was interested in duplicating this program in my town. He asked me to call him...I was VERY nervous to make the call as I wasn't really sure what to say or what was involved. I knew it was important though. We spoke on the phone and I found that if I was able to go to the main distribution point and pick up meals to hand out in my town, then I could bring the program to my town. I reached out to our library and arranged to use the community room to set up in. I put out information in area groups to see how much interest there would be. Then I sprang into action. For 10 months I picked up meals once week and spent 2 hours handing them out as cars drove through. Through this initiative I was able to help feed the people in my town and help keep local restaurants in business during an incredibly tough time.

As a little girl I have always enjoyed finding ways to help people. I would rally my friends and we would sell lemonade and donate the money to the Humane Society, I created a fundraiser to help my aunt afford adoption and my mom and I organized a lot of fundraisers to donate money to the Cure JM Foundation. As I got older, my focus sharpened. during COVId I recognized that families were struggling to eat. I found a group that was helping with this and I reached out. I was be able to set up a location in my town for the Everybody Eats program. For 10 months of Mondays I picked up meals and brought them to our town and I handed them out. I became involved in Unified Sports in elementary school. This is a program that brings together students with and without intellectual disabilities on the same sports team. Here I found my passion. Helping and teaching kids. I wasn't sure how this would look, but I knew it was my direction. As I moved through middle school into high school I started to fine tune this plan. I was deciding between teaching English or History and maybe getting certified in special education. My senior year in high school, at my senior game for winter cheer, I could see in my mom's eyes that something was wrong...very wrong. She wouldn't let me know and said she was crying because it was my senior game. Through the power of social media I discovered that one of my favorite teachers, Mr. Curtis had passed away in a car accident. Mr. Curtis was my history teacher and the director of the plays I had been in. He had a unique way of reaching out to students to support their learning and their mental health. He had so many unique and engaging ways for students to learn and interact with the content he was teaching. One of my first thoughts when learning of his passing was, these amazing ideas and strategies cannot die with him. I decided then that I would be majoring in Secondary History Education. I plan to use the strategies I learned from Mr. Curtis when he was my teacher and bring in what I have learned being involved in Unified Sports as well as watching my mom over the past 20 years as a special educator. In addition to this, I plan on bringing a lot of me to add my own twist! I plan to be the history teacher students remember. They will remember the content (hopefully!) but mostly they will remember that there was a teacher that cared about not only teaching them, but supporting them.

At age 4 I my life took a turn that nobody anticipated. My mom started noticing some changes in me and saw that I was less active but far more tired. She brought me to the doctors and was told it was viral and would run its course. She did not feel that was the right path and she pushed for more to be done. Finally the doctor agreed to send me to get labs. The results were alarming, but at least gave us something to focus on and treat. I was referred to a pediatric rheumatologist in Burlington for what we thought was Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA). I began medication while I waited for the appointment. I don't remember this, but my mom said I hated the medicine and getting me to take it was a nightmare and she was frustrated because I was continuing to decline. We finally got to the appointment and the doctor examined me for about 1 minute and said I did not have JRA and that she suspected I had something called Juvenile Dermatomyositis (JDM). I was sent for more blood tests and told not to leave Burlington until the results were back. My mom received the call an hour later....return to the hospital for Brookelyn to be admitted. I was scared, she was scared and we were not prepared to stay at the hospital. We went shopping quickly to get the basics and then returned to check in. This is where I learned that I had a disease; JDM that had no cure. Only 1-3 children out of a million are diagnosed with it. I immediately began a high dose steroid regimen as well as weekly chemotherapy injections. I went from a healthy and typical 4 year old who loved dresses and would change into 3 or 4 of them a day, to one who could barely hold my body upright. Over the years I endured teasing because the impact the steroids had on my body, multiple MRI's, over 400 chemo injections, countless blood draws, visits to the infusion bay, physical therapy, and I am sure more that I don't recall. I went to counseling after other kids that I had connected with virtually who had JDM passed away because I had a fear that I was going to die. With my mom we decided to take control of the situation the best way we knew how. We began to fundraise to help find a cure for JDM. We channeled our efforts into not just getting me healthy but to doing our part to try to raise awareness so others could get diagnosed sooner and to hopefully find a cure. Together we have raised almost $10,000 for the Cure JM Foundation through a Zumba fundraiser, basket raffle, photo contest and other events. While I am currently in remission, I live my life knowing that at any point my JDM could "wake up" and I begin my fight all over again. I have been able to have a successful high school soccer career (winning TWO State Championships) and a Varsity Cheer career where I was nominated to be a part of the Vermont Shrine Team. I am now working toward becoming a high school history teacher. I plan to use the experiences I have had to be able to not only teach students but support them through the challenges they may face.

I have always loved working with children and helping people succeed. My mom is a special educator and I have always taken inspiration from her work. In elementary school I had a classmate who was on the spectrum. I was often paired to work with him because I was able to provide a natural support for him and he would complete work alongside me. I have been involved in the Unified Sports program through middle and high school and after graduation became a coach for the program as well. My senior year in high school I faced the incredibly sad loss of one of my high school history teachers. When this happened it solidified the direction I wanted to take. I decided that I would major in Secondary History Education. When I had this teacher I kept with me how he was able to not only teach students in a fun and engaging way, but he was able to support them in their struggles in a professional way. As a future educator I want to take from all of my experiences and bring history to life as Mr. Curtis did and follow in my mom's footsteps and reach all students where they are at and welcome them into my classroom. Many people have asked why I am not pursuing special education. My answer to them is that I have seen many general educators be unsure of how to work with students or include students with different learning needs into their classroom. I want to be the general educator that teaches all students and makes them feel welcome in my room. I have also watched as my 2 brothers have navigated the school system on IEP's. I have been able to watch the difference a teacher can make in their education. When a teacher shows that they believe in a student and are willing to work with them it can be give the student the confidence to push themselves to work outside of their comfort zone and achieve great things. In conclusion helping people has always been a passion of mine and I tell people it is in my blood! After I complete my undergrad degree and begin teaching I then plan to pursue my masters in special education. I want to continue balancing knowledge and experience in history education as well as special education so that I can adapt and be prepared for the everchanging needs that students come to school with.