Ever since I can remember my family has lived paycheck to paycheck and only in recent years has it gotten better. For the longest time my dad brought in our main source of income. There were a few years when my mom had worked but after she had an accident at work she stopped working and since then she hasn't worked since. As me and my siblings have gotten older they have started working so they are able to help when my dad needs them to, but he tries not to have them spend their money too much. He wants them to save their money so they can eventually move out and have enough for their own lives. My dad never made a lot of money but it was just enough to pay the bills. Recently he was promoted to become a supervisor so now he makes more than he did before but even then it still isn't enough. There have been times when something has come up and he was forced to spend his money and that has caused him to have to borrow money to pay for everything else. One of the main things that has caused him to have to borrow money has been trying to fix the problems with our cars. Right now my family has multiple vehicles and out of all those vehicles we only have 2 that work right now, so my family has had to spend money on getting their own transportation. We have had to spend a bunch of money to fix them but even with how much we've spent they're not fully fixed. It would cost too much to fix them right away so it'll be a while until they all work. On top of having to pay for the bills and groceries my dad usually doesn't have much to spend on extra things. He buys almost everything that my family needs and only my older siblings are really able to help pay for their own things. Most of the time they only pay for things that they need and put the rest into savings. With all the expenses my family has to worry about there isn't much money to spare. My parents told me they would be able to help wit tuition but they really don't have enough to spare. I need to find a way or else I will end up with thousands in debt. Either way I want to follow through with my education. I have learned so much about finances during high school and through what I've learned, right now I don't think my parents are in a good spot. They spend a ton of their money on bills, and groceries and barely have any savings. That is not good because if something bad happens they won't have the money to pay for it. I want to help them by paying for my own expenses so they can save money incase of an emergency. I will work while attending classes and put most of my money towards paying for school. Putting at least 50% toward paying for college will help but will leave me with almost nothing to spend on things I want, and will probably still leave me in debt.

I always thought I might become a teacher one day. I wasn't sure that is what I wanted to do but once I got to high school I knew I needed to choose a career path and I feel like I chose the right one for me. It hasn't been easy though, throughout the years I have faced many challenges I've had to overcome. These challenges stood as roadblocks in my pursuit of higher education. I think the biggest challenge I've had to face was during my junior year. I had already taken a couple of college level classes the previous two years, and I wanted to raise my GPA so I thought that it would be good to take three college level classes. The three classes I took were AP Calculus BC, OnRamps English 3, and OnRamps U.S History. I was given homework every day and had to balance my time after school with going to marching band practice and performances with getting my homework done. I spent countless nights staying up late just to finish an assignment that was due the next day. I struggled to keep up and started to shift my focus from one class to another and doing this caused me to stop doing a bunch of my work. This caused my grades to slip and I kept doing this, shifting my focus from one class to another until the end of the year. I found myself struggling to keep up when the Calculus AP test was coming up. I had to study extremely hard just so I didn't feel lost during the test. I ended the year off decently but with all the struggling I did I felt like it was a terrible way to end. I learned so much through this though and while I'm still disappointed it didn't go how I wanted, it taught me so much. Once I started high school I knew I would have to come up with a career I would work towards and I ended up choosing teaching. I joined the education training program at my school where we intern at elementary schools. We go to the schools to observe and interact with the class, to help us learn to become better teachers. Since joining the program I have learned a lot about what it means to be an amazing teacher and hearing as well as seeing how other people have been positively impacted by a teacher has made my decision easier. I also joined TAFE (Texas Association of Future Educators) and had the opportunity to interview different teachers and see how they feel about their job. Through this I've learned that teaching is a privilege, and that it's important to remember that it is a big responsibility to make sure that students are being prepared for the real world. Teaching isn't for everyone and it can be tough sometimes but from these interviews I have seen that these teachers really enjoy what they do. Although they might not enjoy it every day, they know it’s important to teach these students and they find pride in being able to change these students’ lives. All of the teachers we interviewed pointed out how it was a big responsibility to make sure their students were ready for the future and it has made me realize just how important teaching really is. I aspire to be like these teachers and have the same impact that they have on their students. Being able to see and experience how teaching can change a person's life made me decide to major in education.

I have faced many challenges that I have had to overcome and experiences that have pushed towards my goals and have helped shape my future. One of the first major challenges I faced was during my freshman year. I was put into AP Human Geography, and halfway through the year my teacher had to leave. We were given a new teacher that did not really know the material so she could not teach the class, and because of this we were forced to watch videos online to keep up with what we needed to learn. This made it very hard to keep up with the class and I didn't do a good job keeping up with my work so after a while I stopped doing my work. Eventually, I was taking the test and didn't know anything and felt like I failed myself. I was so mad and disappointed in myself for allowing something like that to happen. I decided I was going to use that as a learning opportunity and start doing all my work from that point on. Sophomore year went way better than the last, but it wasn't perfect, so I still had work to do. There were many days where I felt tired of school so I would fall asleep in class. This caused me to have more homework than I should have but it wasn't too bad. Fast forward to my Junior year, I had already taken a couple of college level classes the previous two years, and I wanted to raise my GPA so I thought that it would be good to take three college level classes. The three classes I took were AP Calculus BC, OnRamps English 3, and OnRamps U.S History. Calculus was the hardest class I had ever taken and the amount of work I was given caused me to fall behind in all my other classes. English was not as hard but all the essays we had to write took up so much of my time I didn't have much free time. And finally in History we went through the units so fast that I felt like I barely had time to process what I learned. Trying to manage these three classes was probably the hardest thing I have ever done. I was given homework every day and had to balance my time after school with going to marching band practice and performances with getting my homework done. I spent countless nights staying up late just to finish an assignment that was due the next day. Eventually, I started to shift my focus from one class to another and doing this caused me to stop doing all my work, so I fell a little behind in all my classes. This caused my grades to slip and I kept doing this, shifting my focus from one class to another until the end of the year. I found myself struggling to keep up when the Calculus AP test was coming up. I had to study extremely hard just so I didn't feel lost during the test. I really struggled to keep up throughout the year and near the halfway point felt like I was going to fail. I ended the year off decently but with all the struggling I did I felt like it was a terrible way to end. These mistakes have pushed me to be better, and constantly working on this has made my life easier, and has made me a lot better at managing my time. Ever since I promised to do better I've started to focus on doing what I can to get things done. These mistakes have caused me to change and made me realize what I need to do to continue to be more successful in the future and helped push me toward my dreams of becoming a teacher. Some of the main reasons I want to become a teacher is because of some of the teachers I've had in the past. These teachers have had a strong impact on me and helped me throughout the years. Many of them have been able to shape me into a hardworking and responsible person, and I want to be able to do the same thing and make a difference. Once I started high school I knew I would have to come up with a career I would work towards and I ended up choosing teaching. I joined the education training program at my school where we intern at elementary schools. We go to the schools to observe and interact with the class, to help us learn to become better teachers. Since joining the program I have learned a lot about what it means to be an amazing teacher and hearing as well as seeing how other people have been positively impacted by a teacher has made my decision easier. I also joined TAFE (Texas Association of Future Educators) and I had the opportunity to interview different teachers and see how they feel about their job. Through this I've learned that teaching is a privilege, and that it is important to remember that it is a big responsibility to make sure that students are being prepared for the real world. Teaching isn't for everyone and it can be tough sometimes but from these interviews I have seen that these teachers really enjoy what they do. Although they might not enjoy it every day, they know it’s important to teach these students and they find pride in being able to change these students’ lives. All of the teachers we interviewed pointed out how it was a big responsibility to make sure their students were ready for the future and it has made me realize just how important teaching really is. I aspire to be like these teachers and have the same impact that they have on their students. Being able to see and experience how teaching can change a person's life made me decide to major in education.

Over my years in school, I've had many different teachers that have had a strong impact on me and helped me throughout the years. Many of them have been able to shape me into a hardworking and responsible person, and I want to be able to do the same thing and make a difference. I always thought I might be a good teacher one day. I remember when I was in elementary I had to help tutor a younger student to get ready for their first STAAR Test. I mainly helped them with their math work and I feel like I was able to explain the concepts really well. This helped me realize that I could one day become a great teacher. Ever since elementary school I remember other students not understanding an assignment and asking me to help explain it to them. I have had to help so many people and this has helped me build skills that will help me become a better teacher. Once I started high school I knew I would have to come up with a career I would work towards and I ended up choosing teaching. I joined the education training program at my school where we intern at elementary schools during one of our classes in the day. We go to the schools to observe and interact with the class, to help us learn to become better teachers. Since joining the program I have learned a lot about what it means to be an amazing teacher and hearing as well as seeing how other people have been positively impacted by a teacher has made my decision easier. I also joined TAFE (Texas Association of Future Educators) and I had the opportunity to interview different teachers and see how they feel about their job. Through this I've learned that teaching is a privilege, and that it is important to remember that it is a big responsibility to make sure that students are being prepared for the real world. Teaching isn't for everyone and it can be tough sometimes but from these interviews I have seen that these teachers really enjoy what they do. Although they might not enjoy it every day, they know it’s important to teach these students and they find pride in being able to change these students’ lives. All of the teachers we interviewed pointed out how it was a big responsibility to make sure their students were ready for the future and it has made me realize just how important teaching really is. I aspire to be like these teachers and have the same impact that they have on their students. I've always felt like I was good at teaching people and being able to see and experience how teaching can change a person's life made me decide to major in education.

Over my years in school, I've had many different teachers that have had a strong impact on me and helped me throughout the years. Many of them have been able to shape me into a hardworking and responsible person, and I want to be able to do the same thing and make a difference. I always thought I might be a good teacher one day. I remember when I was in elementary I had to help tutor a younger student to get ready for their first STAAR Test. I mainly helped them with their math work and I feel like I was able to explain the concepts really well. This helped me realize that I could one day become a great teacher. Ever since elementary school I remember other students not understanding an assignment and asking me to help explain it to them. I have had to help so many people and this has helped me build skills that will help me become a better teacher. Once I started high school I knew I would have to come up with a career I would work towards and I ended up choosing teaching. I joined the education training program at my school where we intern at elementary schools during one of our classes in the day. We go to the schools to observe and interact with the class, to help us learn to become better teachers. Since joining the program I have learned a lot about what it means to be an amazing teacher and hearing as well as seeing how other people have been positively impacted by a teacher has made my decision easier. I also joined TAFE (Texas Association of Future Educators) and I had the opportunity to interview different teachers and see how they feel about their job. Through this I've learned that teaching is a privilege, and that it is important to remember that it is a big responsibility to make sure that students are being prepared for the real world. Teaching isn't for everyone and it can be tough sometimes but from these interviews I have seen that these teachers really enjoy what they do. Although they might not enjoy it every day, they know it’s important to teach these students and they find pride in being able to change these students’ lives. All of the teachers we interviewed pointed out how it was a big responsibility to make sure their students were ready for the future and it has made me realize just how important teaching really is. I aspire to be like these teachers and have the same impact that they have on their students. I've always felt like I was good at teaching people and being able to see and experience how teaching can change a person's life made me decide to major in education.