There are opportunities for learning and growth all around us, but often, well-rounded learning and development comes from exposure to the unfamiliar. As human beings, we are subject to the limitations of our knowledge and understanding due to our inability to be omnipresent and omnipotent. We only learn from that to which we have been exposed and it is often the case that the extent of our exposure to new things is quite small. If one desires to be well rounded in respects to knowledge, one must learn a bit about everything and exercise all aspects of their potential abilities to experience personal development. Similar to becoming an all around player in any sport, one must fine tune all aspects of their abilities, and this includes both physical and cognitive elements. A basketball player constantly calculates angles to determine the best spot on the floor from which to shoot. A soccer player utilizes physics when determining at which angle to strike the ball to maximize the chances of scoring a goal off of a corner kick. Both sports make use of analytical thinking to figure out who is in the best position to receive a pass and the possible outcomes of every move made during a game. Just as athletes, must train in more than one area to become an exceptional player, one who looks for personal growth needs opportunities for development from more than one source. Traveling to new places and learning through new experiences is an excellent way to add to one's source of knowledge about the world and how people operate in different places under various circumstances. Exposure to different people and places also builds a deeper understanding of the nature of people, and sows the seed of empathy that cannot be gained by anything but experience. I never understood how frightening it can feel for immigrants to travel to a new country without knowing the language, until I took a class that required me to attend an event at which the main language spoken was one with which I had no familiarity. It was unnerving to be in the midst of people that I didn't know, speaking an unfamiliar language causing me to wonder if they were talking about me and what they might be saying. This assignment gave me a glimpse of how it might feel for an immigrant student to attend an American school, after being uprooted from the comforts of their home and longing to hear conversations in their native language instead of the chatter of twenty of students in a language foreign and strange to them. While my experience was a one-time ordeal, it gave me insight for how I can serve to develop as an understanding and empathetic human being. The truly beneficial areas in which one can grow in the virtues, and these are grown through understanding why they are necessary. Walking a mile in another's shoes can go a long way in developing one's character, mindset, and perception. Travel!

My mother has been one of the most inspirational teachers, having been with me from the cradle until now. She homeschooled me from Preschool to high school graduation and tried her best to make learning enjoyable. Her gentle insistence that I study beneficial subjects helped me to see how even the most uninteresting aspects of learning can serve as beneficial future assets. My mom has attributed to much of the knowledge that I have acquired over the years. She introduced me to my first foreign language, taught me the basics of music, and helped me to grasp those difficult mathematical concepts. When she began to struggle teaching my high school math, she asked a fellow homeschool mom with a degree in mathematics to tutor me, but always made herself available to review the content with me and help whenever needed. My mom contributed to the diverse homeschool coop I attended where classes were built and taught by influential homeschooling parents. She was one of those instrumental parents, and she incorporated me as an assistant in her classes, some of which I eventually took over after aging out of the coop. She was (and still is) the best teacher I could have. She looked for and homed in on my interests, happy to learn alongside me in the areas of study that appealed to me as well as in the ones that most plagued me. She let me see the benefit of taking Community College classes while still in high school and helped me to sift through difficult material, read through syllabuses and scour textbooks. With her encouragement, I managed to pass two CLEP literature classes due to her having urged me to study related subjects at an early age. When I expressed the desire to become fluent in several languages, particularly ASL, she helped me look for schools with degrees in the corresponding area and encouraged me to practice Spanish with "hispanohablantes." After learning that the ASL program I enrolled in was revamping their program, changing the acquisition of an associate degree at a two-year institution into a four-year process, she helped me to see that there were other ways in which I could achieve my goals. She suggested going into education, another passion of mine. However, she proposed studying English as a Second Language which would allow me to teach English (another subject I enjoy) to non-English speakers which includes deaf and hard of hearing students whose first language is ASL allowing me the chance to interact with people fluent in my target language. My mom was a teacher, but she was way more than that. It was she who birthed, bathed and clothed me. She taught me the alphabet, how the letters come together to create sounds and words, and how they in turn, make up sentences. It was my mother who was a member of the most animated and thoroughly enjoyed book club I've ever been a part of, often consisting of just two people. It was she who spent time researching the complex rules to chess, a game at which neither of us was very good, but one that I am proud to say I understand. She was my study buddy, encouragement, and amiable advisor. Best of all, I get to continue learning as I witness her teach many of the things she went over with me to my seven siblings, catering to each of their personal interests. My mom contributed to my positive outlook on life and education and helped me discover a way to give back to my community through pursuing K-12 teaching certification.

The Bible! Everyone in the world ought to read the Bible. I know my readers are giving me eyerolls, but please hear me out! Even if everyone does not claim Christianity, there is so much to be learned from the Bible. I personally struggled with the concept of whether the Bible should be forced on people as I believe that one can have a relationship with God, without it. Yet, I also came to find that the Bible contains so many benefits for those who read it and can be useful to believers and nonbelievers alike. For instance, the Bible contains historical information that one can learn from. Additionally, the Bible is written in old English, and for those who want to become extremely literate, I would highly suggest using the Bible as a means to better one's vocabulary. You'll sound pretty smart if you can use "thou," "dost" and "dwell" in everyday conversation. Additionally, the Bible has the greatest story plot ever. During a book club, I once heard the idea of an author never including an element in his writing that he wouldn't reference later in the story. This golden idea is something that the Bible's gospel story includes. There are so many references to past happenings, elements of foreshadowing, and other beautiful literary devices that makes the story so fulfilling. One can even learn math through reading the bible, with the many recorded dates detailing the ages of various characters and the old systems of measurement that require conversions to understand the measurements in today's English terms. Finally, the Bible holds so many morals that one cannot cease to learn something new from it. We live in a world full of violence and self-centeredness, yet in the Bible the central theme is love and forgiveness. If we don't want the next generation to experience a new level of hatred, the young children need to have some type of values instilled in them. The Bible is the perfect choice. Even if you view the Bible as just a book with a bunch of wise sayings, wouldn't it be wise to take advantage of those wise sayings and learn something beneficial? You seriously cannot go wrong if you read the Bible. You just have to have the right approach when reading it. Don't be too judgmental and you'll most assuredly find something that speaks to you in there.

As a Christian, I hope to encourage others to see the opportunity for growth in all situations, even those that are seemingly distasteful at first. I am pursuing a degree and certification in education so that I may offer my life as an example for school students to learn from that they may see the light of Christ shining through me. I believe it is imperative not to claim Christianity in word only, but also in deed. This includes maintaining a Godly mindset and attitude no matter where I go and what I do. Yet, I don't always do this and oftentimes need reminders to set me back on track. This has occurred several times throughout my educational journey. I viewed navigating the murky waters of secular education as a Christian as an undesirable challenge. In my mind, the fear of having my work rejected by teachers who do not share the same values as myself while trying not to be ashamed of the Gospel was sufficient grounds for my desire to attend a Christian college. Yet, God used my financial situation to secure my attendance of a secular school which allowed me to build a deeper relationship with Him rather than remain comfortable in a Christian environment. While attending the secular university, I was faced with many teachings and concepts that contradicted the Word of God, yet, I learned from them. God was used all of the contradictory content of each and every one of my textbooks to teach me more about and draw me closer to Him. It is amazing to reflect on the classes I have taken and realize how much I learned about God through them. I learned about humility and how as a Christian, I can easily fall into the sin of pride, by feeling that I already know everything. Once, I had to take a class with a theme of learning how to learn. I inwardly scoffed, my pride making me slow to see how the class actually held several concepts beneficial for a believer. The book we read, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," by Stephen Covey, focused on how people can implement productivity and effectiveness into their lives. One chapter, titled "Begin with the End in Mind," emphasized defining your prospective end goal to use as a reminder of the purpose of your task whenever the road towards that goal began to feel taxing. That is exactly what Christians are called to do. Several verses in the Bible encourage us to keep the end in mind, such as 1st Corinthians 9:24 and Philippians 3:14. Ecclesiastes 7:8 reads, "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit." Not only was I proud in spirit when I first entered the class, but I also hadn't realized that I was not doing all things to the glory of God. I couldn't help but marvel at how God could use my school textbooks from a class I hadn't wanted to take at a school I hadn't chosen to attend in order to rebuke and teach me. By the end of the class, I had learned so much about myself through the many self-reflection assignments based on the readings. After the class, I found myself emailing the teacher confessing how I had come into the class with low expectations but came to appreciate the valuable lessons the course held. Attending a secular school didn't mean conforming to the world, I just had to see how these concepts were useful for my growth.

Education is the way in which I look to give back to my community and I am currently pursuing certification in grades 4-8 in order to fulfill this goal. While serving as a teacher is not the most preferred job by many, I find it to be rewarding, not only for me, but also for the students and their families that I can impact through my job. Much more takes place in a classroom than simply teaching students to read, write, and solve mathematical equations. The classroom is a place in which the students grow in character and personality. Teachers are the ones who students see much of the day, and it is they who will likely shape much of the students' attributes. I want to inspire my students to have a love and care for others and give of themselves with a goodness not often readily found in this world. There were so many people in my educational upbringing who directly contributed to my desire to serve as a teacher. Having been homeschooled from kindergarten through high school, my parents are two of the first educators who had a direct impact on my career choice. Through them, I developed a high level of respect for educators. It is a difficult job to teach another human being whose mindset and learning style differ drastically that those of the teacher, but my parents exhibited such gracious forbearance and patience, that I was inspired to do the same for others. My mom became a teacher the moment I was born and has been for the last twenty years, having homeschooled each and every one of her eight children. It hasn't been easy for her, and she often felt discouraged, but still hasn't thrown in the towel. Seeing her dedication and perseverance encouraged me to push through difficult challenges and setbacks in my own life and aim to benefit someone else through everything that I do. My parents placed me in a community of other like-minded homeschoolers with a desire to see their children flourish as well as help others. Being surrounded by so many beautiful people who so freely gave of themselves only strengthened my resolve to become a teacher. My homeschool evaluator who has been with my family for over ten years was sensitive to my family's financial situation in that she only required that we pay what we could considering that the price for each student's end-of-the-year evaluations could prove extremely expensive given the number of school aged children in our family. Her compassion planted a seed in my being, giving way to my desire to serve families while not compromising their financial situation. I recently learned that certification in education also opens the door for obtaining the status of a homeschool evaluator. It is my desire to offer my services to low-affording families, without having them worry about how their payments may affect their budget. I am currently building a teaching business on Outschool (an online learning platform for K-12 students) and offering American Sign Language classes to students at an extremely low cost so that students from any financial background can benefit from normally, high priced educational enrichment. This is just the beginning, and I hope to find more ways in which I can serve students from low-income backgrounds and offer them enjoyable educational opportunities without financially burdening their parents. Ultimately, my goal is to be an example of love and giving and inspire others to do the same with their own talents and abilities. Education is the perfect avenue for spreading this light and love with others.

The community I grew up in, consisting of my parents, immediate family, and outside homeschool family friends, greatly influenced my future career aspirations and field of study. As a homeschooler, I attended a homeschool co-op where homeschooling parents created and taught extracurricular classes ranging from Physical Education and Latin to Biology and World Cultures. Families often had more than four children, and my own family had encompassed eight kids. All the teachers were homeschooling parents from diverse backgrounds, including ministers, entrepreneurs, cooks, doctors, nurses, firemen, college professors, and math and science teachers. Their various schooling degrees ranged from high school diplomas to PhDs. One of those homeschool moms, who was a certified reading specialist, became my evaluator for the last seven years of my schooling. She was an inspiring figure who used her certification to become an evaluator (crucial for homeschooling families) and was very caring towards my family and me. I am now teaching ASL at the very coop I, myself, attended for over ten years. Through gaining a degree in Education, I hope to become a certified evaluator, supporting homeschool communities meet the yearly evaluation requirements. This is just one way in which I hope to give back to the community of people that so willingly gave of themselves in various and often sacrificial ways. I have already been supporting the homeschooling community aside from teaching ASL by helping out in gym, writing, the littlest kids' set weekly activities, and any other classes needing extra hands. My parents were actively involved in my education and placed me in a nurturing homeschool community. Both of them served as teachers, my dad taught P.E. and my mom taught American Sign Language, which became a passion of mine. As I grew older, my interest in ASL grew and I joined several online ASL meetups to practice the language and learn more about the deaf community. I also developed a love for language learning and one of my long-term goals is to become a polyglot. I am currently studying Spanish and Japanese with the hope of adding more languages later on. I hope to implement my love of languages into my career of teaching English. Familiarity with the deaf culture and language will allow me to benefit many children in the deaf community since ASL sentence structure differs greatly from that of English which may not be their first language. Likewise I can benefit many ESL students if I can speak their first language. Incorporating my personal goal of multilingualism into my career of teaching English will positively impact the lives of those I come in contact with in my teaching career. Thus, fulfillment of my educational degrees will help me to serve multiple communities and fulfill my career goals.

As a current university student pursuing degrees in Education, Spanish, and Linguistics, I experienced several unplanned and upsetting changes to my education track. Having begun to earn college credit in high school, I already knew what I wanted to do upon applying to community college. Since American Sign Language has always been a passion of mine, I applied to study ASL at a two-year school before transferring to a four-year institution to pursue K-12 education certification. The educators in my life had significantly impacted my educational experience as well as my personal life which drew me to reciprocate. Education licensure allows one to serve as an evaluator for homeschool families, a role for which I have great respect and admiration, having been homeschooled through all my compulsory school years. While language learning was more appealing, education was more important. Thus, I chose to fulfill my craving for language study before transferring to a four-year school to settle into education. Much to my chagrin, my plans were thwarted with the revamping of the ASL program, turning graduating from a two-year school into four. Although passionate about ASL, dedicating so much of my time to my associate's degree was a setback. Although gravely disappointed, I changed my major from ASL to liberal arts intending to acquire as many required credits as possible to transfer into my four-year program. Majoring in liberal arts at the two-year school made the prospect of education less exciting, but it never lost its importance. My mom suggested searching for four-year institutions offering degrees in ASL K-12 education and we eventually stumbled upon a perfect match for my aspirations at Bloomsburg University. The only problem was that these classes were in-person, and Bloomsberg was too far away for me to attend without living on campus. I was raised to value family and avoid living outside of the home at all costs unless starting a family of my own. Living on campus would go against my family's values putting me at a crossroads. It was hard enough to find a school that offered degrees in K-12 education. Most education programs offered K-4, middle school, or high school, but not all three combined. With a heavy heart, I put aside all notions of language learning and settled on going to Drexel University, the best financial choice offering a middle-grades licensure program. I hoped to somehow acquire the other grades later. At Drexel, I learned that Drexel's Spanish Minor program would accept my community college's Spanish credits. I then learned that the Middle Years education degree required courses coincided with those of a Linguistics minor, allowing me to tack on another minor. Better yet, my mom discovered a K-12 ESL certification program through Drexel's post-bachelor's program. I then learned that the cost of the ESL certification was much higher than I had thought. I searched for less expensive programs and found Carlow University's online M.Ed ESL program. When compared to most schools, Carlow offered certification and a Master's at a reasonable price, but I would still struggle to finance it. That is the current dilemma I am facing. However, I know that everything works together for the good. All of the previous letdowns and closed doors were blessings in disguise. It is no coincidence that Spanish happened to be one of the minors that were opened to me as a result of my inability to find an educational path that spoke to my passions and dreams. I recently learned of an extremely inexpensive Spanish certification add-on that provides K-12 certification. I have learned to appreciate the blessings that trying circumstances bring.

Faith is such an intricate concept. It can be as strong as a lion or as weak as a lamb. As a Christian, I have faith that Jesus Christ died a painful and terrible death so that I may be granted eternal life free from the pain and worries of this world. The Bible defines faith as "the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen." A common example to help us with the idea of believing in the unseen is the concept of the wind. Wind cannot be seen by the naked eye and yet, we can figuratively see it through the things that it touches. Similarly, I have found myself seeing God through the many ways in which he has touched life. Around fourteen, I went against God by disobeying my parents and entering an online chatroom against their wishes. God showed me his mercy by protecting me throughout my illegal exploration of that chatroom. He used my period of rebellion to draw me closer to Him and form a personal relationship with Him in which I could hear his voice speaking to me. Around the same time, my parents began arguing constantly over various complicated issues. Eventually, biblical principles soon joined the list of topics over which my parents disputed. I found myself distraught in a way that I'd never been before. It was one of the first times that I really had to question my own beliefs. I realized that the "faith" I'd had was not truly my own but was rooted in what my parents taught me. Though they could no longer agree on what they taught, God used this time of turbulence to grow my trust and reliance upon Him. I began to seek answers to the questions that my parent's arguments raised and form a personal relationship with God that didn't revolve around my parents. As I grew in my understanding, I still had doubts concerning the things that I was coming to believe and the stances I was being led to take on the various disagreements that my parents held. I was often overwhelmed by the fear that my willful sinful nature was causing me to manipulate what I read in the Bible. One day, I came to a conclusion concerning one of the disagreements that my parents had been warring over for weeks. The conclusion I came to mirrored many of the opinions that my mother had voiced, and I worried that I was just looking for an excuse to go against my father. Yet, the Sunday after my tentative decision on what I believed concerning the subject, my father preached on the same topic and validated what I'd come to believe. I was astounded since I thought that he disagreed with my mother. God had used my father, the one who I was afraid of displeasing with my agreeance with my mother, to validate the very concepts that God had been trying to show me. It was this occurrence that opened my eyes to the fact that they were actually agreeing, but a lack of communication was preventing them from seeing this for themselves. Although they are still at each other's throats to this very day, God allowed two opposing sides to unitedly reveal the truth. God rewarded that little ounce of faith that I had to trust what He was saying to me and used it to give me comfort and peace. I have faith that He will continue to guide me as I journey through life and will never forsake me, despite my errors.

I have decided to become an educator so that I may give back to my community as well as remain a lifelong learner. I seek to give in the same manner that I have been given and find working as an educator not only appeals to my interests and passions but also serves multiple communities. My parents are the ones who inspired me to become a teacher. They gave of themselves by choosing to educate all eight of their children by way of homeschooling. This was a great sacrifice, as it took much of their time, mental capacity, finances, and much more. So consequential was our education to my mom and dad that they felt it necessary to be actively involved in our lives and learning journeys and endeavors, sacrificing many of their desires for our development. They placed us in an environment full of other homeschool parents who desired each child in the community to thrive, so we did. These parent educators were ministers, deacons, entrepreneurs, doctors, nurses, firemen, college professors, math, and science teachers, and cooks whose various schooling degrees ranged from high school diplomas to PhDs. One of these instrumental parents became my evaluator for the last seven years of my compulsory education. She was an inspiring certified reading specialist, who used her certification to become an evaluator and was very caring towards my family and me. Observing the devotion to others' well-being and success exhibited by so many people in my community influenced my desire to reciprocate that care and give back. As one who is greatly passionate about language learning, I initially desired to gain my Associate's degree in American Sign Language (ASL). However, the community college at which the ASL program was offered was revamping the program and I would have found myself enrolled in a 4-year program at a 2-year school. My goal had always been to become a certified teacher, and I knew that the time spent at the ASL program would prove more beneficial if dedicated to a 4-year educational program. With a heavy heart, I dropped the ASL and devoted myself to taking education classes instead. Although disappointing, I know that the sacrifice will be small compared to the benefits my students will gain.   I am currently enrolled in a program leading to teaching certification for grades 6-8. Yet, I am compelled to serve more than these three grades and aspire to gain a Master's degree in English as a Second Language after graduating with my bachelor's. ESL will not only allow me to serve a variety of students from kindergarten to 12th grade but also work with students who use ASL! My passion for ASL has led to my awareness of the need for ESL teachers for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. For many children in the deaf community, English is not their first language as ASL sentence structure differs from that of English. Additionally, many children with disabilities greatly benefit and flourish through ASL. Since language is a great passion of mine and I had the surprising opportunity to tack on a Spanish minor to my bachelor's program, ESL is an aspect of teaching that greatly appeals to me. My familiarity with Spanish and ASL will allow me to communicate better with a wide range of students. Better yet, certification in K-12 education will also allow me to become an evaluator for homeschooled students across all grade levels. As I pursue my degree and career goals, I will serve as a role model for my seven younger siblings encouraging and promoting a life of appreciation and gratitude.

As a previous homeschooler introduced to the art of teaching and lesson planning at a relatively young age, my career goals and aspirations developed from the influences and experiences I had as a student schooled at home. I intend to use every moment of my higher education to prepare for my future role as a K-12 educator. Such a career opens the door for other educational career opportunities such as serving as a homeschool evaluator, a role that is very meaningful to me having graduated from homeschool. My own evaluators were warmhearted individuals who propelled me towards success. Following in their footsteps is a wonderful way to give back to my homeschooling community as well as learn new teaching techniques from seasoned homeschool teachers. I also hope to implement my desire to become a polyglot into my career of teaching. A catalyst for translating and helping ESL students with their non-language subjects as they excel at learning to speak, read, and write English, I find my passion for learning languages a perfect match for my future career goals. While in my profession, I hope to positively impact the lives of many families and look to combine my many talents and aspirations to do so. As a multilingual, K-12, ESL teacher, I will be able to help many communities with various linguistic differences. By becoming a certified evaluator, I can support homeschooling families who need someone to review their children's work at the end of each school year. As someone who was homeschooled from kindergarten to high school, I know firsthand how beneficial evaluators can be. The woman who evaluated me in my final seven years of compulsory education was a certified reading specialist who used her certification to become an evaluator. She helped my mom understand the government requirements for education and what was needed to get me my high school diploma. Her assistance reduced the stress my mother may have felt during the graduation process. As an educator, I want to be a good role model for my students by demonstrating loving behavior through words and deeds. I hope to inspire young people to be positive influences on their peers and use their education to positively impact others. Many young students feel that school is a chore, but it's important that they discover meaningful connections between what they are learning and the application to their own lives. I want to encourage my students to find ways in which their learning can prepare them for life. If they choose to pursue higher education, I hope to have helped them see that they can find potential no matter where they are and through all of their learning.

For me success means having a positive impact on the people that God places in my life. I want to use my passions and gifts to serve others and show a love that will have a lasting effect on people long after I have passed on. I am looking to become a certified teacher and earn a degree in education. Sign Language has been a great passion of mine and if I succeed in my career goals, I hope to implement my familiarity and ever-growing knowledge of Sign Language into my career of teaching English. For many children in the deaf community, English is not their first language as American Sign Language (ASL) sentence structure differs from that of English. My knowledge of ASL will allow me to communicate better with special needs students, and those who are deaf or hard of hearing. If established in my desired career as an English as a Second Language teacher, I hope to benefit the community that I grew up in as well as many other surrounding communities. Becoming certified in education can allow me to become an evaluator which can be very helpful to the homeschool communities that need someone to evaluate their children's work at the end of each school year. I have seen firsthand how beneficial homeschool evaluators can be having been homeschooled myself from kindergarten all the way to high school. The woman who evaluated me for the last seven years of my compulsory education was an inspiring certified reading specialist, who used her certification to become an evaluator. She was a blessing to my mom by helping her to understand the government requirements concerning education and the necessities in order for my mom to issue me my high school diploma. My evaluator's assistance helped reduce some of the stress that my mother may have otherwise had throughout my graduation process. As an educator, I want to be a good role model for my students by demonstrating loving behavior through words and deeds. I hope to inspire young people to be positive influences on their peers and use their education to positively impact others. If possible, I hope to use my experiences in life, whether good or bad as a way to mentor those who look up to me as they can learn from my past mistakes and perhaps make use of the things that worked for me. I would want to remind those in the education system, particularly Christian students looking to gain a higher education, that the degree and paper signifying their dedication and hard work in school is nothing if done without Christ in mind. They may hope to go one way and God may redirect them onto another path. Students in compulsory education may feel that school is mundane and a chore and wish to avoid it altogether if possible. However, as it is mandated by the government, they are required to undergo the unpleasantries of school. I'd want to let them know that it's important that they discover meaningful connections between what they are learning and its application to their own lives. I want to encourage my students to find ways in which their learning can prepare them for life. If they choose to pursue higher education, I hope to have helped them see that they can find potential no matter where they are and through all of their learning. Although it may feel boring, they can find aspects of how their learning may prepare them for life when they are older. For anyone with interests similar to my own and looking to pursue an education like that of my own, I would hope to aid them in their aspirations and give them information on the pros and cons of such a career and what difficulties they may face in the field and ways in which they may prepare for and deal with them. I will be able to mentor a wide range of young folks if I am fluent in several languages as a polyglot. In the end, I hope to be a listening ear for those who need it and one on who people can bounce their ideas off of. Finally, as I pursue my degree and career goals, I can share what I learn with my seven younger siblings allowing them to possibly have more knowledge at an earlier age and give them a role model. Knowing that I have siblings that are looking up to me motivates me to do well and be an example of one striving to live according to God's will. My success is their success and viceversa. I hope to see many young people flourish in my lifetime but also hope for remnants of my work to live on through others who I have impacted.

My mother has been one of the most inspirational teachers, having been with me from the cradle until now. She homeschooled me from Preschool to high school graduation and tried her best to make learning enjoyable. Her gentle insistence that I study beneficial subjects helped me to see how even the most uninteresting aspects of learning can serve as beneficial future assets. My mom has attributed to much of the knowledge that I have acquired over the years. She introduced me to my first foreign language, taught me the basics of music, and helped me to grasp those difficult mathematical concepts. When she began to struggle teaching my high school math, she asked a fellow homeschool mom with a degree in mathematics to tutor me, but always made herself available to review the content with me and help whenever needed. My mom contributed to the diverse homeschool coop I attended where classes were built and taught by influential homeschooling parents. She was one of those instrumental parents, and she incorporated me as an assistant in her classes, some of which I eventually took over after aging out of the coop. She was (and still is) the best teacher I could have. She looked for and homed in on my interests, happy to learn alongside me in the areas of study that appealed to me as well as in the ones that most plagued me. She let me see the benefit of taking Community College classes while still in high school and helped me to sift through difficult material, read through syllabuses and scour textbooks. With her encouragement, I managed to pass two CLEP literature classes due to her having urged me to study related subjects at an early age. When I expressed the desire to become fluent in several languages, particularly ASL, she helped me look for schools with degrees in the corresponding area and encouraged me to practice Spanish with "hispanohablantes." After learning that the ASL program I enrolled in was revamping their program, changing the acquisition of an associate degree at a two-year institution into a four-year process, she helped me to see that there were other ways in which I could achieve my goals. She suggested going into education, another passion of mine. However, she proposed studying English as a Second Language which would allow me to teach English (another subject I enjoy) to non-English speakers which includes deaf and hard of hearing students whose first language is ASL allowing me the chance to interact with people fluent in my target language. My mom was a teacher, but she was way more than that. It was she who birthed, bathed and clothed me. She taught me the alphabet, how the letters come together to create sounds and words, and how they in turn, make up sentences. It was my mother who was a member of the most animated and thoroughly enjoyed book club I've ever been a part of, often consisting of just two people. It was she who spent time researching the complex rules to chess, a game at which neither of us was very good, but one that I am proud to say I understand. She was my study buddy, encouragement, and amiable advisor. Best of all, I get to continue learning as I witness her teach many of the things she went over with me to my seven siblings, catering to each of their personal interests. My mom contributed to my positive outlook on life and education and helped me discover a way to give back to my community through becoming a certified teacher.

I aspire to be an educator as I see such a position as beneficial to my community. Those at the forefront of my homeschool education; my parents, math teachers, aunts, uncles, homeschool evaluators, and other educators, encouraged me to grow academically and characteristically. I look to be such an encourager for others and find the educational setting a great atmosphere in which to do so. Acquiring a degree in education will help me to reach that goal. Additionally, teaching certification allows one to be a homeschool evaluator, a very significant role to me as my evaluators were inspirational, warmhearted individuals who propelled me toward success. I also want to encourage students to pursue their interests while studying to enhance their school experience. I discovered my love for learning through my fascination with language, which began when I was young. Using aspects of language learning to help me understand subjects like math and science helped me overcome the challenges of school. My passion for language has grown to the point where I want to include it in my teaching career. I am currently at a communicative level in American Sign Language and Spanish and plan to learn Japanese and Swahili in the future. These language assets will help me better connect with my students who come from diverse linguistic backgrounds. For example, children in the deaf community may not consider English as their first language since American Sign Language (ASL) has a different structure than English. With my knowledge and familiarity with ASL, I will be able to communicate with deaf and hard-of-hearing students through their first language. Similarly, my ability to communicate in Spanish will be useful when interacting with Spanish-speaking students. I hope to help my students identify their passions and apply them in their schoolwork, as well as in their everyday lives. As an educator, I want to be a good role model for my students. I hope to inspire young people to be positive influences on their peers and use their education to positively impact others. Many young students feel that school is a chore, but I'd like to help them see the beneficial side of school and encourage them to find connections between what they are learning and their personal interests. I want my students to be eager to discover how their learning can prepare them for the experiences they will have later in life. Whether teaching in a formal classroom or evaluating homeschooled students, I want to leave a positive impact on my students. Working in the education field, I will be constantly looked up to, which requires me to model great character and an admirable work ethic. Attaining my degree is the next step in allowing me to leave that valuable impact. This scholarship will help me fulfill my goals.

I am looking to become a certified teacher and earn a Bachelor’s degree in English as a Second Language which will serve me well in future aspirations. Sign Language has been a great passion of mine and if I succeed in my career goals, I hope to implement my familiarity and ever-growing knowledge of ASL and Spanish into my career of teaching English. For many children in the deaf community, English is not their first language as American Sign Language (ASL) sentence structure differs from that of English. My knowledge of ASL as well as Spanish will allow me to communicate better with special needs students, those who are deaf or hard of hearing and Spanish speakers. As an English as a Second Language teacher, I want to help my community and surrounding areas. By becoming a certified evaluator, I can support homeschooling families who need someone to review their children's work at the end of each school year. As someone who was homeschooled from kindergarten to high school, I know firsthand how helpful evaluators can be. The woman who evaluated me in my final seven years of compulsory education was a certified reading specialist who used her certification to become an evaluator. She helped my mom understand the government requirements for education and what was needed to get me my high school diploma. Her assistance reduced the stress my mother may have felt during the graduation process. As an educator, I want to be a good role model for my students by demonstrating Godly behavior without using words. I hope to inspire young people to be positive influences on their peers and use their education to positively impact others. Many young students feel that school is a chore, but it's important that they discover meaningful connections between what they are learning and the application to their own lives. I want to encourage my students to find ways in which their learning can prepare them for life. If they choose to pursue higher education, I hope to have helped them see that they can find potential no matter where they are and through all of their learning.

Developing myself through education has been important to and for me as it will help me to fulfill my future personal and career goals. I aspire to be an educator, not only for the enjoyment of teaching but also to positively benefit my community. My own schooling experience was that of a homeschooler, educated and nurtured by my mother and father. They raised me in an environment of loving family and friends who desired to see the best for me. Those at the forefront of my education; my parents, math teachers, aunts, uncles, homeschool evaluators, and other educators, encouraged me to grow academically and characteristically. I grew up going to a local homeschool co-op where I could socialize with kids my age and also connect with kids who were younger and older. The older kids were role models for the younger ones, and we were encouraged to be good examples for those under us. After I graduated, I was able to return to the co-op as a teacher or assistant. This gave me work experience for my future career and allowed me to be compassionate and caring towards my students. I taught physical education classes and American Sign Language to children of different ages. This experience has been helpful in building my teaching portfolio. I would also like to encourage that type of growth in others and find the educational setting a great atmosphere in which to do so. Acquiring a degree in teaching will help me to reach that goal. Additionally, having a teaching certification also allows one to become an evaluator, a role that is very significant to me. The evaluators in my life were very inspirational and warmhearted individuals who propelled me toward success. The opportunity to benefit others by evaluating has increased my desire to pursue education. I am passionate about language learning and want to incorporate it into my teaching career. I am currently at a communicative level in American Sign Language and Spanish and plan to learn Japanese and Swahili in the future. This will help me better connect with my students who come from diverse linguistic backgrounds. For example, in the deaf community, English may not be their first language. Since American Sign Language has a different sentence structure than English, knowing ASL will help me communicate with students who are deaf or hard of hearing. As the oldest of eight children, the importance of being a good role model was engraved in me from a young age and I've seen firsthand how the decisions of one in a regarded position can affect others for better or worse. I like to view all younger students as extended siblings. I intend to positively influence them through my example to become inspirations in their own unique ways and act as motivators for others. If all of my siblings, biological and figurative succeed then I have succeeded and am well on my way to reaching my goal of being a positive and influential educator. Whether teaching in a formal classroom, evaluating homeschooled students, or helping my siblings with their schoolwork and everyday problems, the impact that I have in the lives of the people I interact with is important. As one working in the field of education, I will be constantly looked up to, which requires me to be a positive figure and show great character and an admirable work ethic. My higher education is the next step in allowing me to share valuable knowledge, academically and fundamentally with others and this scholarship will help me fulfill the academic portion of that goal.

Higher education is important to and for me as it will help me to fulfill my future personal and career goals. I aspire to be an educator, not only for the enjoyment of helping others in the process of learning but also be a benefit to my community. My own schooling experience was that of a homeschooler, educated and nurtured by my mother and father. They raised me in an environment of loving family and friends who desired to see the best for and from me. Those at the forefront of my education; my parents, math teachers, aunts, uncles, homeschool evaluators, and other educators, encouraged me to grow academically and characteristically. I would also like to encourage that type of growth in others and find the educational setting a great atmosphere in which to do so. Acquiring a degree in teaching will help me to reach that goal. Additionally, having a teaching certification also allows one to become an evaluator, a role that is very significant to me. The evaluators in my life were very inspirational and warmhearted individuals who propelled me toward success. The opportunity to benefit others by evaluating has increased my desire to pursue higher education and obtain a teaching degree. I also want to implement my passion for language learning into my future teaching career. I am currently learning and at a communicative level in American Sign Language and Spanish, with the hopes of adding Japanese and Swahili later on. Broadening my language capacity will allow me to better connect with my students from various language backgrounds. For instance, in the deaf community, English is often not their first language and since American Sign Language sentence structure differs from that of English, my knowledge of ASL will allow me to communicate better with students who are deaf or hard of hearing. As the oldest of eight children, the importance of being a good role model was engraved in me from a young age and I've seen firsthand how the decisions of one in a regarded position can affect others for better or worse. I intend to positively influence my siblings and other younger peers to make wise decisions and hope that they see my example and follow suit in their own unique ways and act as motivators for others. Additionally, anything I learn on my educational journey can be shared with them, allowing them to possibly be more advanced than I had been at their ages. I view my success as their success and viceversa. If they succeed and are conscious of the important things in life, then I have succeeded and am well on my way to reaching my goal of being a positive and influential educator. Whether I am teaching in a formal classroom, evaluating homeschool students, or helping my siblings with their schoolwork and everyday problems, the impact that I have in the lives of the people I interact with is important. As one working in the field of education, I will be constantly looked up to, which requires me to be a positive figure, and show great character and an admirable work ethic. My higher education is the next step in allowing me to share valuable knowledge, academically and fundamentally with others and this scholarship will help me fulfill the academic portion of that goal.

My mother has been my favorite and most inspirational teacher. She is the only female teacher who has been with me from the very beginning, since my birth, until now. She homeschooled me from Preschool until the twelfth grade and always did her best to make learning fun and enjoyable. When I was younger and my reading was expanding, my mom had me research all the authors of the books I read and put together a book that encompassed each one. Although I was initially opposed to this project, it turned out to be quite fun because I was able to do something I loved doing, reading. Instead of reading about pretend stories, I was able to read about the authors' lives, giving me insight into the authors' purpose for crafting their books in the way they did. Learning about the authors proved more beneficial than I could have guessed, as passing the literature CLEP exams turned out to be much easier than I had initially expected due to having studied many authors early on. My mother encouraged me to study useful subjects that taught me important skills. She believed that even the most uninteresting topics could be beneficial in the future. I credit my mom for much of my acquired knowledge. She introduced me to my first foreign language, taught me the basics of music reading, and helped me to grasp those difficult mathematical concepts. I had an amazing teacher who taught me a lot of different subjects. Thanks to her, I even took college classes while still in high school. When I expressed my desire to learn multiple languages fluently, she helped me find schools with degrees in those areas and advised me to practice speaking Spanish with fluent speakers. Unfortunately, the ASL program I was enrolled in was revamped, which meant the Associate degree that used to take two years would now take four. My teacher encouraged me to explore other avenues to achieve my language goals. She suggested that I go into education, which is another field I'm interested in. Specifically, she recommended studying English as a Second Language. This would allow me to teach English (which I enjoy) to non-English speakers, including deaf and hard-of-hearing students who use ASL as their first language. This would also allow me to interact with people who are fluent in my target language. My mom was my teacher from elementary through high school, but she was much more than that to me. She gave birth to me, bathed and clothed me, and taught me the basics of reading and writing. She was patient and made sure I understood math concepts instead of just completing assignments. We read books together, and she helped me learn the complex rules of chess and soccer. My mom was my study buddy, encourager, and loving mother. She taught me important values like following God, being family-oriented, and serving others. I'm grateful to continue learning from her as she teaches my younger siblings. She inspired me to become a certified teacher and give back to my community. My mom is the most influential and inspiring woman in my life, not just in my education but in all aspects of life.

Various arguments in the world revolve around the composition of the universe. Religions, theories, and concepts rooted in Darwinism are proposed to explain the phenomena of the world we live in and the complexity of our existence. The idea of the beginning of our existence is related to a more serious concept, which is the end of our existence. What happens when we are no longer here to ponder the makeup of the universe? What happens to the universe when the ever-predicted apocalypse occurs? Many religious people point to a God, a higher power, and draw their conclusions from there. Some people say that believing in a higher power is the only salvation against imminent doom. Yet, many also dismiss the idea of a higher being as nonsensical imagination. While most religious folks cannot prove that there is a God, most scientists cannot prove ideas and concepts such as the Big Bang theory. What is the truth? Will trusting in a God really save one from eternal doom? Does dismissing the idea of a deity and believing there is no afterlife grant true security? How can one be sure there isn't an afterlife? Is there such a thing as heaven and hell? We work and toil every day, but what gain is it if it ends in misery or doesn't amount to anything? Is our sole purpose to live and then die? All of these questions make up the simple yet threatening question that looms in the back of everyone's mind and heart. What is the big picture? I think it is essential for every individual to strive to find an answer to that question. What is life if we are not sure of the future? As someone who aspires to become an educator, I firmly believe that it is our responsibility to guide students in discovering the truth about humanity and the world we live in. It is crucial to improve our personal understanding of the nature of the universe, as we are a part of it and whatever happens or is predicted to happen will impact us. We need to be certain about our future and whether there is an afterlife. Until we can answer these questions, we should spend every moment searching for answers. We must encourage this generation to be curious and persistent in seeking answers to questions that may seem impossible to answer. I want my students to use their educational experiences to apply the concepts they learn in school to answer these questions. I believe that everything we encounter in life can serve as a means to examine the purpose and meaning of our existence, as well as shed light on the mysteries of our universe. As a university student, I make it a point to understand how the knowledge I acquire is a piece of the puzzle that will help solve life's biggest questions. I consider it my responsibility to encourage the next generation to do the same. As I pursue my personal calling, whether it is imagined or set in place by a higher power, I seek to gain useful information that may help my future students understand the truth about life's big picture. My goal is to share this information with my students and provide them with the necessary tools to delve deeper into unearthing the secrets of our universe. I want to cultivate a classroom environment that fosters curiosity, critical thinking, and evaluation of both seen and unseen concepts. Ultimately, each person must reach their own satisfactory conclusion about the nature of life's big picture, and I only hope to serve as a guide and facilitator for my students in their journey of discovery.

I am an undergraduate in my senior year looking forward to graduating with a BS degree in General Studies. For the last two years, whenever I explained my major, people assumed that I didn't know what I wanted to do yet and was still weighing my options before committing to a more individualized degree program. However, my goal has always been to become a certified teacher in a K-12 educational discipline, but despite consistent research, I couldn't find a degree program that allowed me to accomplish my goal while staying close to my family to help my mom out with homeschooling my seven younger siblings. After several prospective options resulting in disappointments, I finally found a school with an opportunity for me to acquire a minor degree in Middle school education while majoring in General Studies and return for a K-12 post-bach TESL certification. The school was also local so I could continue benefitting my family while commuting to and from campus. Though initially hesitant with the decision, I later found it to be a true blessing, as I was able to add two more minors to my degree, both of which pertained to passions of mine, Linguistics and Spanish. I am looking to use my degrees in Linguistics and Spanish to aid me in my teaching career, allowing me to communicate and instruct monolingual Spanish speakers and understand the linguistic challenges that may infringe upon any given student's learning and success. Another goal of mine is to give back to the homeschool community in which I was raised and grew up. I was blessed with such wonderful role models and mentors, that I seek to also bless other families through my future career in education. I learned early on that certification in Education allows teachers to serve as homeschool evaluators for homeschool students in the certified grade areas. Thus, I am determined to gain K-12 certification, so that I will have the ability to help homeschool families through their entire compulsory educational journey. My homeschool evaluator was certified as such and was so kind to me and my family throughout all of the years that she served as my evaluator and she continues to bless my family by evaluating my seven siblings. As one can tell, language is a great passion of mine, and I continue to grow in my language communication abilities through my personal studies of American Sign Language and Japanese. I hope to become proficient in these languages as well so that I will be able to expand the number of families that I can reach through education. With my background in Spanish, and prayerfully American Sign Language and Japanese, I will be able to assist a greater range of students, from a variety of different backgrounds, homeschooled and traditionally brick-and-mortar schooled. I hope that I can set my siblings as well as future students a positive example that they too will seek ways in which they might benefit their communities, creating a trickle effect in which masses of families and students are impacted by caring individuals seeking to benefit them through their interests and gifts.

I aspire to be an educator, not only for the enjoyment of helping others in the process of learning, but also be a benefit to my community. My own schooling experience was that of a homeschooler, educated and nurtured by my mother and father. They raised me in an environment of loving family and friends who desired to see the best for and from me. Those in the forefront of my education; my parents, math teachers, aunts, uncles, homeschool evaluators, and other educators, encouraged me to grow academically and characteristically. I would also like to encourage that type of growth in others, and find the educational setting a great atmosphere in which to do so. Acquiring a degree in teaching will help me to reach that goal. I recently learned that having teaching certification also allows one to become an evaluator, a role that is very significant to me. As mentioned earlier, the evaluators in my life were very inspirational and warmhearted individuals who propelled me towards success. The opportunity to benefit others by evaluating has increased my desire to pursue a higher education and obtain a teaching degree. I am now looking to become a certified teacher and earn a Secondary Math and English degree and certification in English as a Second Language which will allow me to serve special needs students as well as those who are deaf or hard of hearing. After being introduced to American Sign Language (ASL) by my mother at age two, it has become a great passion of mine, one of which I hope to implement into my career of teaching English. Through extensive research on the topic of deafness, I learned that for many children in the deaf community, English is not their first language as ASL sentence structure differs from that of English. I also learned that many children with disabilities greatly benefit and flourish with American Sign Language. My familiarity with and knowledge of American Sign Language will allow me to communicate better with special needs, deaf, hard of hearing, and a wide range of other children in academic settings. Whether I am teaching in a formal classroom, evaluating homeschool students, or helping my siblings with their schoolwork and everyday problems, the impact that I have in the lives of the people I interact with is important. As one working in the field of education, I will be constantly looked up to, which requires me to be a positive figure, and show great character and admirable work ethic. In turn, this compulsion will motivate me to strive for nothing less than my best and further mold and shape me as a person. My higher education is one step in allowing me to share valuable knowledge, academically and fundamentally with others. Giving back to my community means having a part in watching that deaf child succeed in an English-speaking and hearing society. Knowing that I can be a catalyst in that hard of hearing or non-native child's journey towards independent reading, writing, and speaking English because I communicated with them in their first language as they excelled in their second. Advocating for that special needs child to thrive not just educationally but also in life despite so-called learning setbacks motivates me to serve my community. Seeing a homeschooled child or any other learning individual thrive in their education and eventually graduate and pursue his or her life's calling is the highlight of giving back to my community. Attaining my career and educational goals will help me achieve many things and be a service to multiple communities.

Trying to maintain my mental, physical, and nutritional health while attending school has proven difficult, but not unmanageable. Knowing that I spend hours on end sitting at a desk working on assignments has spurred my motivation to be sure that I set aside several hours per week to relax and exercise. I've begun to run during the early hours of Saturday mornings with friends to get fresh air in my lungs and exercise my limbs before turning my attention to school assignments. I've also signed up to be a volunteer basketball ref during the winter months to keep my body moving. I have also managed to keep up my martial arts classes, scheduling them during the time that I am not in school and right after I get off of work. To maintain my physical health, I also need to concentrate on eating healthily. I make sure not to eat out too often and eat home-cooked meals, such as fresh vegetable soups without any added salt. I figured that I will get my necessary sodium through the other less healthy foods that I find myself eating throughout the school week, but at least I am balancing my salt, carbohydrates, and calorie intake. I have been blessed with the opportunity to take a free class that interests me at my university and decided to take a Spanish class as learning languages is my passion. This has kept me from feeling overly exhausted with school and gives me a sort of break while still earning college credit. As previously mentioned, I love learning languages and use this hobby as a much-needed distraction from the mundane aspect of school. I use Duolingo as a fun way to exercise my brain with language learning and also study American Sign Language (ASL) at an online nonaccredited University created by the renowned Bill Vicars. Like any language, ASL requires consistent practice in order to reach a fluency level and I found several online meetups where I can practice my target language with other learners and native deaf speakers. When I have a free moment, I like to teach my youngest brother simple toddler signs and enjoy watching him pick up on vocabulary and communicate through Sign Language. It is also a way for me to stay connected with my family despite being buried in schoolwork. I try to take a break every hour or so when studying to walk around my house and talk to some of my family members to allow my brain a rest while staying attached to the rest of my family. On weekends, I'll join everyone in conversations over a recap of the week from each person's perspective. Although difficult, maintaining a healthy lifestyle while in school is still feasible, and with a little effort, one can successfully meet college deadlines while keeping the mind, body, and brain fit and happy.

My life goal is to become a PreK-12 educator, assisting and teaching students looking to learn English as a second language. A closely connected goal that will assist my life goal is to become a polyglot, a catalyst for translating and helping students with their non-language subjects as they excel at learning to speak, read, and write English. Sign Language has been a great passion of mine, and I hope to implement my familiarity with Sign Language into my career of teaching English. For many children in the deaf community, English is not their first language and American Sign Language (ASL) sentence structure differs from that of English. My knowledge of ASL will allow me to communicate better with special needs students, and those who are deaf or hard of hearing. Furthermore, becoming certified in education can allow me to become an evaluator, crucial to homeschool communities needing evaluations of their children's work at the end of each school year. From age two, I studied American Sign Language (ASL), and at four, Spanish. In elementary, I developed a love for words (especially pronunciation and grammar) and a fancy for languages. My siblings and I enjoyed watching cartoons in Dutch, Polish, German, and other foreign languages and trying to figure out words from each language. For six years, from third to ninth grade, I took Latin at a homeschool coop and learned that many languages have roots in the old language. It is at this coop that I now teach Beginning ASL to a diverse range of students. I took a beginner's Japanese class at Community College of Philadelphia as well as ASL 102 and am looking to finish the College's final Spanish class 202 this Fall. However, I began studying Japanese and Spanish on my own early on, searching for different learning platforms that suited my style of learning. One of those platforms was the infamous Duolingo which, in addition to their learning program offered a person-to-person format allowing me to connect with other Japanese learners and natives looking to learn English. Additionally, I have had to opportunity to engage with Spanish speakers in my community affording me a cultural experience and language-speaking practice with neighbors and friends. I initially sought an Associate's degree in American Sign Language Interpreting and afterward, a bachelor's in a PreK-12 discipline at a four-year college. However, the community college I am currently attending changed its curriculum, and graduating in two years turned into four. Although I love the ASL language and culture, four years at a two-year institution was not a great use of the time, so, I changed my degree to liberal arts and focused on taking classes that will transfer to a future Bachelor's degree at a four-year university. This Fall, I'll have graduated within one year's time having been a dual-enrolled high school student and acquiring credits before official enrollment. I still plan to graduate from a four-year institution with a PreK-12 degree in education but have not given up on my desire to learn ASL either. I found online communities for the deaf, hard-of-hearing, and ASL learners. The possibility of teaching and assisting deaf students is still obtainable and I hope to become certified in ASL through other means such as the National Interpreter Certification. Changing the course of my education showed me that I could still look to reach my goals; it'd just take a more creative means to attain them. This scholarship will help me pursue my higher education and achieve all of my aspirations, fulfill my career goals and be a service to multiple communities.

My dad found out he had high blood pressure several years ago, and since then my family and I have done much to lead a healthier lifestyle. Salt being one of the biggest enemies for one with high blood pressure, we decided to switch our diet to one consisting of less salt. We began to read the labels on our packaged foods and eat more consciously to lessen our daily salt consumption. Determined to lead a healthier lifestyle, my family decided to cook more homemade meals from scratch instead of using box mixes or microwavable, quick meals. We began to notice that cooking without great quantities of salt was difficult as we ate for taste and were unaccustomed to bland foods, or food unladen with salt. Little by little, however, we began to wean ourselves away from rich-tasting foods to healthier, more nutritious meals. Right after learning that my dad would need to make significant changes to his diet, we began to look for alternatives to salt. Breaking out the old-fashioned cookbook, we began experimenting and searching for easy, more wholesome meals we could prepare ourselves. We eventually learned of spices that proved to be excellent seasoning, rendering meals tasty. Vegetable Stir Fry and various styles of soup became a common theme in our house. Now, we have become so accustomed to saltless soups and dishes that we can often taste even small amounts of salt in food when eating out. Foods that used to be familiar in our household are now met with exclamations of "it's too salty." We didn't just stop at salt but also began to pay attention to how much sugar we consumed daily. Reading labels for carbohydrates and sugars also became common. I began to put less and less sugar in my food and drinks and search for substitute sweeteners. Honey worked well in tea, and I began to use it instead of sugar, even if I was not sick. Instead of sugar in my oatmeal, I began to use an assortment of fruits, my favorite being dried cranberries. Eventually, I got to the point where I could eat oatmeal without sugar at all and although, I prefer oatmeal with cranberries, I can now tolerate plain oatmeal without any condiments. We also learned how to make healthier ice cream with natural fruit sugars from frozen bananas blended into a cream. Taking this idea, my dad began freezing fruits of all types to make healthy drinks and included vegetables such as kale, spinach, and even broccoli! Some years after implementing a healthier eating lifestyle, we began to garden despite only having a concrete porch and not a green and spacious yard. My dad and brother built a greenhouse to keep out city critters, and with several planting pots and lots of dirt, we grew medicinal herbs and an assortment of vegetables. Once we had made the change, I took a biology class that explained how our bodies broke down salts, sugars, and foods. I developed an even more educated purpose for living healthily. I understood what was going on in my father's body and how unhealthy eating would harm our bodies. Healthy eating habits are of the ultimate importance because it protects our bodies from diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. I've appreciated our transition to healthier eating as it has been a family journey that has benefited my dad, my younger siblings, and me, introducing us to healthy habits at an early age.

My dad found out that he had high blood pressure several years ago and since then my family and I have done much to lead a healthier lifestyle. Salt being one of the biggest enemies for one with high blood pressure, we decided to switch our diet to one consisting of less salt. Prepackaged store-bought foods, canned goods especially, are packed with extreme amounts of salt to preserve the food. We began to read the labels on our packaged foods and eat more consciously to lessen our daily salt consumption. Determined to lead a healthier lifestyle, my family decided to cook more homemade meals from scratch instead of using box mixes or microwavable, quick meals. We began to notice that cooking without great quantities of salt was difficult as we ate for taste and were unaccustomed to bland foods, or food unladen with salt. Little by little, however, we began to wean ourselves away from rich-tasting foods to healthier, more nutritious meals. Right after learning that my dad would need to make significant changes to his diet, we began to look for alternatives to salt. Breaking out the old-fashioned cookbooks we began experimenting and searching for easy, more wholesome meals we could prepare ourselves. We eventually realized that spices such as pepper and garlic were excellent forms of seasoning that could take the place of salt and render our meals tasty. Vegetable Stir Fry and various styles of soup became a common theme in our house. Eventually, we got to the point where we no longer purchase saltshakers from the grocery store. We figured that we would get our needed portion of salt through most of the packaged foods that we purchase and not buying salt to season our home cooked meals only lessened our salt intake. Now, we have become so accustomed to saltless soups and dishes that we can often taste even small amounts of salt in food when eating outside of our home. Foods that used to be common in our household are now met with exclamations of "it's too salty." We didn't just stop at salt but also began to pay attention to how much sugar we consumed per day. Reading labels for carbohydrates and sugars also became common. I began to put less and less sugar in my food and drinks and search for substitute sweeteners. Honey worked well in tea and I began to use it instead of sugar, even if I was not sick. Instead of sugar in my oatmeal, I began to use an assortment of fruits, my favorite being dried cranberries. Eventually, I got to the point where I could eat oatmeal without sugar at all and although I prefer oatmeal with cranberries, I can now tolerate plain oatmeal without any condiments. We also learned how to make healthier ice cream with natural fruit sugars out of frozen bananas blended into a cream. Taking this idea, my dad began freezing fruits of all types to make healthy drinks and included vegetables such as kale, spinach, and even broccoli! Some years after implementing a healthier eating lifestyle, we began to garden despite only having a concrete porch and not a green and spacious yard. My dad and brother built a greenhouse to keep out city critters and with several planting pots and lots of dirt, we were able to grow medicinal herbs and an assortment of vegetables. I've appreciated our transition to healthier eating as it has been a family journey that has benefited my dad as well as my younger siblings, introducing them to healthy habits at an early age.

I understand from experience how juggling extracurricular activities and school can be difficult. I am a community college student who also works as a parttime apprentice at a botanical garden while trying to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle by practicing Taekwondo and playing other various sports whenever I get the chance. I also teach at a one-day-a-week homeschool coop and volunteer as a soccer coach and referee or basketball coach during the school year (respective soccer and basketball seasons). Summers are busy with constant activity including volunteering at soccer camps and VBS and a busier work schedule which involves hosting public boating, fishing, and biking events several days a week. Taking classes during the summer was especially difficult as the beautiful warm days and eventual summer heat make it hard to concentrate on classwork and maintaining my GPA. Two summers ago, I took two heavy courses throughout the summer, biology and sociology, and found it extremely difficult to keep my grades in the A and B categories. I discovered several ways in which to consolidate some of my tasks and reduce the amount of time used for each one. I began to bring my college work with me to my job and work on assignments during my down time. I found that if I put most of my activities on the same day as my workdays, I could limit how often I needed to go out and render myself more studying time. These days at home prove to be the times at which my concentration level is at its highest, and I am less susceptible to interruptions. During the beginning of the week, I try to get the core of my studying and schoolwork done so that I can work at the garden and finish any uncompleted assignments when I'm on break or things get slow during the midweek. Doing my schoolwork at work gave me a positive change of scenery and increased my motivation to get assignments done. Additionally, being outside when the weather was nice catered to and slightly subdued my itching desire to move around and be outdoors which usually whittled away at my attention span and killed my focus. Before the start of the school year, I wisely wrote out all of my lesson plans ahead of time. Now, I only need to do a quick overview of my lesson for the day during the morning of my coop teaching days. Reffing and coaching only takes place on the weekends, so I make sure to have all of the more taxing assignments out of the way so that when I return home, I only have a small amount of work left, if any at all. Staying aware of when my deadlines must be met and gaging how much time each assignment will take early on has proved very beneficial in helping me maintain my grades. As it stands, the lowest grade I have received throughout my entire college experience has been a B and only in two classes. I am looking to continue planning my work, study and extracurricular activities in this fashion in order to maintain my GPA and my mental and physical health.

Learning is essential to our existence. Every human comes into this world with the ability to learn regardless of how fast or slow, the content or the level of content. As the course for which our world becomes more complex and specific, so does what we need to learn. For example, technology is ever-changing. Before cell phones, people sent messages via morse code. The invention of the code changed life as it was known. The new technology introduced our society to large poles needed to transmit the codes over distances and a change from the standard morse code to an international one. What began in America became a necessity globally. Many inventions birthed during the industrial revolution impacted just about every country around the world. As this change took place, so did the knowledge base. If the American morse code was no longer in use neither were the jobs that utilized the code. A new messaging language was in town thus a new skill set. This is the cycle of the world, in one day and out the other. This is what makes lifelong learning essential to life as we know it. "If you don't accept change, life will pass you by" is something my grandfather said quite often to encourage trying new things, learning as much as possible, and understanding that changes are inevitable for as long as one lives. My great-grandmother was born during a time when most homes did not have a telephone but in time came to own a cell phone. Understanding the variableness of life and having many hobbies ranging from crocheting to playing soccer to a strong interest in becoming a polyglot or multi-lingual; my long-term personal goal is to remain forever learning for which the educational field is prime. I will be able to grow as a teacher and better my teaching and communication skills with students from various backgrounds as I plan to obtain a degree as a certified English as a second language teacher. Sign Language has been a great passion of mine and if I succeed in my educational goals, I hope to implement my familiarity and ever-growing knowledge of Sign Language into my career of teaching English as a second language. For many children in the deaf community, English is not their first language, but American Sign Language (ASL) has a sentence structure that differs from that of English. My knowledge of ASL will allow me to communicate better as these students learn to read and write in English. Additionally, becoming certified in education can allow me to become an evaluator which can be very helpful to the homeschool communities that need someone to evaluate their children's work at the end of each school year. Finally, as I pursue my degree and career goals, I can share what I learn with my seven younger siblings allowing them to have more knowledge at an earlier age. I would learn from them as their life experiences will differ as I am 16 years older than my youngest sibling.

My life goal is to become a PreK-12 educator, assisting and teaching students looking to learn English as a second language. In addition, a closely connected goal that will assist my life goal is to become a polyglot, a catalyst for translating and helping students with their non-language subjects as they excel at learning to speak, read, and write English. At the same time, deaf and hard of hearing students would also benefit from an English as a second language teacher, where my ever-growing knowledge of Sign Language would serve ASL as first language students as they learned to read and write in English. Finally, becoming certified in education can allow me to become an evaluator for homeschooled families that need end-of-school-year evaluations for their children. From age two, I studied American Sign Language (ASL) and Spanish at age four. In elementary, I developed a love for words (especially pronunciation and grammar) in addition to a fancy for languages. My siblings and I would watch cartoons in Dutch, Polish, German, and other foreign languages and enjoyed trying to figure out words from each language. For six years, from third to ninth grade, I took Latin at a homeschool coop, where I learned that many languages have roots in the old Latin language. The homeschool co-op I attended from age six to high school is where I now teach Beginning ASL to a diverse age range of students. I took a beginner's Japanese class at Community College of Philadelphia as well as ASL 102 and am looking to finish the College's final Spanish 202 class this Fall. Additionally, I began searching for different learning platforms that suited my learning style and studying Japanese and Spanish at my own pace. One of those platforms was the infamous Duolingo. Their learning program offered a person-to-person format allowing me to connect with other Japanese learners and natives looking to learn English. I also take advantage of the opportunity to engage with Spanish speakers in my community, learning the history and culture from friends and neighbors. My initial plan was to acquire an Associate's degree in American Sign Language interpreting and then transfer to a four-year college to earn a bachelor's in a PreK-12 discipline. However, I had to change my plans. The department changed the curriculum, and graduating in two years became four. Although I love the ASL language and culture, four years at a two-year institution was a little too much. So, I changed my degree to liberal arts focusing on classes that will transfer toward Bachelor's degree at a four-year institution. As of this Fall, I will have graduated within one year as I was a dual-enrolled high school student and had already acquired 12 credits before dual enrollment. I still plan to graduate from a four-year institution with a PreK-12 degree in education and have not given up on my desire to learn ASL. As my passion is to communicate in several languages, I found online communities for the deaf, hard-of-hearing, and ASL learners. The possibility of teaching and assisting deaf students is still obtainable. After graduating with my degree, I will obtain the National Interpreter Certification and take the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment. Investing in my future would go a long way. For example, it would be the equivalent of investing in my seven siblings as I pass on to them whatever I learn. My success is their example and motivation for success. Not only will I benefit from the joy of being an educator and studying multi-languages, but so will many others benefit through that same passion.

My life goal is to become a PreK-12 educator, assisting and teaching students looking to learn English as a second language. Additionally, a closely connected accommodating goal is to become a polyglot, a catalyst for translating and helping students with their non-language subjects as they excel at learning to speak, read, and write English. At the same time, deaf and hard of hearing students would also benefit from an English as a second language teacher, where my ever-growing knowledge of Sign Language would serve ASL as first language students as they learned to read and write in English.

My life goal is to become a PreK-12 educator, assisting and teaching students looking to learn English as a second language. In addition, a closely connected goal that will assist my life goal is to become a polyglot, a catalyst for translating and helping students with their non-language subjects as they excel at learning to speak, read, and write English. While deaf and hard of hearing students can also benefit from an English as a second language teacher, implementing my ever-growing knowledge of Sign Language into my career will also be beneficial. For many children in the deaf community, English is not their first language, and American Sign Language (ASL) sentence structure differs from that of English. I would be able to teach ASL as a first language for students to read and write in English. ASL will allow me to communicate better with special needs students who rely on it as a form of communication. Finally, becoming certified in education can allow me to become an evaluator for homeschooled families that need end-of-school-year evaluations for their children. From age two, I studied American Sign Language (ASL) and Spanish at age four. In elementary, I developed a love for words (especially pronunciation and grammar) in addition to a fancy for languages. My siblings and I would watch cartoons in Dutch, Polish, German, and other foreign languages and enjoyed trying to figure out words from each language. For six years, from third to ninth grade, I took Latin at a homeschool coop, where I learned that many languages have roots in the old Latin language. The homeschool co-op I attended from age six to high school is where I now teach Beginning ASL to a diverse age range of students. I took a beginner's Japanese class at Community College of Philadelphia as well as ASL 102 and am looking to finish the College's final Spanish 202 class this Fall. Additionally, I began searching for different learning platforms that suited my learning style and studying Japanese and Spanish at my own pace. One of those platforms was the infamous Duolingo. Their learning program offered a person-to-person format allowing me to connect with other Japanese learners and natives looking to learn English. I also take advantage of the opportunity to engage with Spanish speakers in my community, learning the history and culture from friends and neighbors. My initial plan was to acquire an Associate's degree in American Sign Language interpreting and then transfer to a four-year college to earn a bachelor's in a PreK-12 discipline. However, I had to change my plans. The department changed the curriculum, and graduating in two years became four. Although I love the ASL language and culture, four years at a two-year institution was a little too much. So, I changed my degree to liberal arts focusing on classes that will transfer toward Bachelor's degree at a four-year institution. As of this Fall, I will have graduated within one year as I was a dual-enrolled high school student and had already acquired 12 credits before dual enrollment. I still plan to graduate from a four-year institution with a PreK-12 degree in education and have not given up on my desire to learn ASL. As my passion is to communicate in several languages, I found online communities for the deaf, hard-of-hearing, and ASL learners. The possibility of teaching and assisting deaf students is still obtainable. After graduating with my degree, I will obtain the National Interpreter Certification and take the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment.

My life goal is to become a PreK-12 educator, assisting and teaching students looking to learn English as a second language. In addition, a closely connected goal that will assist my life goal is to become a polyglot, a catalyst for translating and helping students with their non-language subjects as they excel at learning to speak, read, and write English. While deaf and hard of hearing students can also benefit from an English as a second language teacher, implementing my ever-growing knowledge of Sign Language into my career will also be beneficial. For many children in the deaf community, English is not their first language, and American Sign Language (ASL) sentence structure differs from that of English. I would be able to teach ASL as a first language for students to read and write in English. ASL will allow me to communicate better with special needs students who rely on it as a form of communication. Finally, becoming certified in education can allow me to become an evaluator for homeschooled families that need end-of-school-year evaluations for their children. From age two, I studied American Sign Language (ASL) and Spanish at age four. In elementary, I developed a love for words (especially pronunciation and grammar) in addition to a fancy for languages. My siblings and I would watch cartoons in Dutch, Polish, German, and other foreign languages and enjoyed trying to figure out words from each language. For six years, from third to ninth grade, I took Latin at a homeschool coop, where I learned that many languages have roots in the old Latin language. The homeschool co-op I attended from age six to high school is where I now teach Beginning ASL to a diverse age range of students. I took a beginner's Japanese class at Community College of Philadelphia as well as ASL 102 and am looking to finish the College's final Spanish 202 class this Fall. Additionally, I began searching for different learning platforms that suited my learning style and studying Japanese and Spanish at my own pace. One of those platforms was the infamous Duolingo. Their learning program offered a person-to-person format allowing me to connect with other Japanese learners and natives looking to learn English. I also take advantage of the opportunity to engage with Spanish speakers in my community, learning the history and culture from friends and neighbors. My initial plan was to acquire an Associate's degree in American Sign Language interpreting and then transfer to a four-year college to earn a bachelor's in a PreK-12 discipline. However, I had to change my plans. The department changed the curriculum, and graduating in two years became four. Although I love the ASL language and culture, four years at a two-year institution was a little too much. So, I changed my degree to liberal arts focusing on classes that will transfer toward Bachelor's degree at a four-year institution. As of this Fall, I will have graduated within one year as I was a dual-enrolled high school student and had already acquired 12 credits before dual enrollment. I still plan to graduate from a four-year institution with a PreK-12 degree in education and have not given up on my desire to learn ASL. As my passion is to communicate in several languages, I found online communities for the deaf, hard-of-hearing, and ASL learners. The possibility of teaching and assisting deaf students is still obtainable. After graduating with my degree, I will obtain the National Interpreter Certification and take the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment.