Growing up, I was often seen as "unfortunate" by my friends since I was the youngest and only girl between my siblings and I. As a child, I was very "easily influenced," which made me believe everything I was told. However I was lucky enough to have teachers in my younger years that showed me how lucky I was to have older brothers and loving parents. The same teachers showed me I was capable of pushing myself to not only do my best, but also show off to my siblings, I was very competitive. My first grade teacher who also happened to be my third grade teacher, also showed me that teachers truly do care about their students even when we get in trouble. During the moment of silence I always saw her bow her head and close her eyes which led me to ask why she always did that. She told me she prayed over each of us to have a productive and safe day; it stuck with me because everyday before school my parents prayed with us at the bus stop. As a seventeen year old girl, I still see her in public and still remember each way she shaped my life. As I got older, I realized people are mean and not everyone around you wants to see you succeed. I had people in my life who I thought were flowers in my life yet they turned out to only throw dirt on me. It took a toll on me how much I wanted to go to school because I had constant anxiety of what they were saying. All my teachers in high school were insanely supportive helping me get through things such as anxiety. I hope to make as much of an impact on this generation as my teachers made on my generation. Along with that, I work in a daycare so I see kids everyday ranging from 4 months to 12 years old. I love seeing the older ones come from school, telling me about their days, their friends, and their teachers. Seeing the faces of these children genuinely being excited to be at school gives me so much more hope for this upcoming generation. Not only the older ones, but I mainly work with the toddlers (one year olds) and I hope I can go to college and become a teacher and possibly see them start school and truly enjoy it. I think a big issue right now within America's school systems is the climbing numbers of mental health related issues. Teenagers often go without talking about their mental health issues. I think if students felt more comfortable talking with their teacher or counselor and feeling like a change would happen, they would be more likely to speak up. I know what it feels like to be in that situation but I was fortunate enough to have teachers who I knew cared about me and my well-being.