I have been interested in playground safety since I was a little girl. At just 8 years old, in third grade, I witnessed one of my classmates fall nearly 10 feet from the top of a slide. With only 2 adults supervising over 100 children, it is no surprise that these adults didn't notice my classmate had fallen, and I had to leave her alone, just lying on the ground, to go get one of them to come help. With the lack of adults, they were unable to escort her into the school office to call a parent. So, at just 8 years old, I walked all the way through the school with my friend whose arm was broken in four places, attempting to calm her down and assess what she needed, all while just barely being old enough to read and tie my shoes. No child should ever be put in that situation; we are not equipped to handle such severe situations. Just two years later, on the very same playground, my younger brother, who was now 8 years old, just as I had been, witnessed one of his good friends collapse and begin seizing. Thankfully, she had told my brother about her epilepsy previously and how to help her in case she ever had a seizure at school because, yet again, there were only 2 staff members supervising far too many children. The staff was not properly trained to care for a seizure; thankfully, they did call for an ambulance, but my brother, at just 8 years old, was the one helping to take care of her. Again, children at that age should never be placed in that situation, and I plan to make it my mission to never have that happen at the school I teach at in the future. I have already made steps to ensure I myself am not part of the problem. I have spent nearly 80 hours taking classes, studying, and becoming certified as an emergency medical responder/first responder. This means I am equipped to handle medical emergencies requiring a variety of types of care, including broken bones, seizures, illness, and situations requiring CPR/AED. I hope to use my background to open a dialogue in my school to encourage my fellow staff to get some level of training to handle emergency situations. Not only is it important for teacher and school staff to have an understanding of a variety of medical conditions, first aid, CPR, AED use, without an adequate number of adults they will not be able to safely carry out the needed care. I will push for school policies to ensure enough adults are present at all times to allow staff to care for all the students and keep the situation under control.

Ever since I was little, I have dreamed of becoming a teacher. School has always been my happy place, and I thrive when given the opportunity to learn in a classroom. I credit my incredible teachers, coaches, and mentors for fostering my love of learning, and I would love to provide that for the next generation of students. My experiences working in childcare and babysitting have shown me that being around children is something I want to spend the rest of my life doing. As I've grown up, I have explored other career paths, from architecture to medicine and everything in between, but I always come back to being in the classroom helping kids grow. Intending to enter the education world comes with questions- lots of questions. People are concerned about the money, the benefits, and the time commitment. Of course, any person should consider these things when choosing a career, but if these were the only factors everyone would end up rich and miserable. I intend to spend the rest of my life in a job that makes me feel happy and fulfilled despite potential hardships. So many people talk themselves out of their dream job for one reason or another, and I won't let that be me. One of my favorite quotes from Jon Krakauer says, "At least they tried to follow their dream. That's what was great about them. They tried. Not many do." I want to be remembered as the person who tried and pursued her dream. Even if I eventually come up short, I tried. I hope to encourage kids to adopt the same attitude. You can achieve greatness just by starting. Dreams take you nowhere if you don't follow them. I want to be the kind of teacher who shows kids they are capable because no matter how much they struggle, they can all be successful. Although I've always known that I loved school, I've experienced my fair share of hardships. I spent hours after school struggling with math homework for nearly all of elementary school, but once I reached middle school, I had the support of incredible math teachers. They showed me that math was fun and doable and that it was ok to take extra time to understand it. With their help and my parents, I started to excel and love math. Middle school and math are both notoriously miserable for many people. However, I believe that both of these are about learning, developing confidence, and being the best you can be. I will work daily to show kids it's okay to make mistakes and the value of struggle. I want to do everything I can to give them as many opportunities as possible. I want to be the person they can trust and talk to about anything they need to. I want to be their advocate, one of their biggest supporters, and help them reach their goals. Education is one of the best things a child can receive to be successful, and I want to do my part to give back and help them achieve more than any of them believe they can.

Being a person with an autoimmune disease has significantly impacted my life for as long as I can remember, long before being diagnosed with Celiac Disease in 2017. I was first diagnosed with and hospitalized due to a coexisting kidney condition when I was 2 years old. In the years following I had doctor's appointments every month, got blood drawn quarterly and was constantly on medications to regulate my symptoms. Because of this first diagnosis, my Celiac symptoms were constantly overlooked, my frequent nausea, vomiting, and migraines, slow growth and more were attributed to my kidneys and the medications I was on. It got to the point where I was throwing up in class multiple times a month, there was no way for my parents to take that much time off work to pick me up and everyone decided that the school policy that any student who throws up must be sent home no longer applied to me. What second grader should have to sit at school all day after throwing up in front of her entire class? I spent years having doctors and other adults decide what should be done with my body and tell me nothing else could be done rather than listening to me. Finally after nearly 10 years of being told that everything I dealt with was “my normal,” I got my Celiac diagnosis. This was the point in my life when people finally started to “care about my feelings.” Or so they thought. No one seemed to care when I was crying in the bathroom at school because of a stomach ache or dreaded lunch at school because I knew I would throw up. They only cared once I got the diagnosis and was told I’d have to be gluten-free for the rest of my life. But did they ever ask how I felt about it? No. I was actually excited. Would it be hard? Yes. But it was a step towards feeling better. Being gluten-free turned out to be easier than all my previous medical struggles and I finally felt like I had control of my body. However, the people around me didn't seem to understand that. For so long I was out of control of my body and what I wanted more than anything was some sense of power to feel better. For me going gluten-free didn't mean I was losing anything. I was getting myself back. At 18 years old I am now confident in my body and freely advocate for myself and others when it comes to my medical needs. I have surrounded myself with doctors who listen to me and a support system of people who take the time to understand me and respect my needs. I have developed so much knowledge about food, nutrition and my body in general which I have applied in other areas of my life, especially sports. I have had to explore gluten-free alternatives which lead me to find joy in baking. I also am an avid runner and plan to pursue athletics in college. I firmly believe that had I not dealt with Celiac and my other medical struggles I would not have achieved this level of success. Being an athlete requires so much understanding of your body and despite it not necessarily being the most fun way to gain that understanding, Celiac has provided me invaluable knowledge of my mind and body. I hope in the future to help advocate for Celiac awareness and research to help others find the strength I have developed.

Ever since I was little, I have dreamed of becoming a teacher. School has always been my happy place, and I thrive when given the opportunity to learn in a classroom. I credit my incredible teachers, coaches, and mentors for fostering my love of learning, and would love to provide that for the next generation of students. My experiences working in childcare and babysitting have shown me that being around children is something I imagine spending the rest of my life doing. As I've grown up, I have explored other career paths, but I always come back to being in the classroom helping kids grow. Intending to enter the education world comes with questions- lots of questions. People are concerned about the money, the benefits, and the time commitment. Of course, any person should consider these things when choosing a career, but if these were the only factors everyone would end up rich and miserable. I intend on spending the rest of my life in a job that makes me feel happy and fulfilled, despite any hardships. So many people talk themselves out of their dream job for one reason or another, and I won't let that be me. One of my favorite quotes says "At least they tried to follow their dream. That's what was great about them. They tried. Not many do." I want to be remembered as the person who tried and pursued her dream. Even if I eventually come up short, I tried. I hope to encourage kids to adopt the same attitude. You can achieve greatness just by starting, dreams take you nowhere if you don't follow them. I want to be the kind of teacher who shows kids that they are capable because no matter how much they struggle, they all can be successful. Although I've always known that I loved school I've experienced my fair share of hardships. I spent hours after school struggling with math homework for nearly all of elementary school, but once I reached middle school I had the support of incredible math teachers. They showed me that math was fun and doable and that it was ok to take extra time to understand it. With their help and my parents, I started to excel and love math. I hope to use the challenge to drive my success and pay forward the invaluable lessons by following in their footsteps as a middle school math teacher.

Throughout my academic career, math has been one of the most difficult subjects for me, but also one of my favorites. Despite my challenges in math, I have been very successful academically and I attribute much of that success to my middle school teachers who showed me what I was truly capable of. I hope to use my background and future Secondary Education degree to teach math at the middle school level and set kids up for success the same way I was. I hope to show them that through hard work and fun, they can achieve anything they put their mind to in life. Middle school and math are both notoriously miserable for many people, however, I believe that both of these are about learning, developing confidence, and being the best you can be. I will work daily to show kids it's okay to make mistakes and the value of struggle. I want to do everything I can to give them as many opportunities as possible. I want to be the person they can trust and talk to about anything they need to. I want to be their advocate, one of their biggest supporters and help them reach their goals. Education is one of the best things a child can receive to be successful, and I want to do my part to give back and help them achieve more than any of them believe they can.