Fostering understanding, compassion, and kindness towards others is essential in numerous job fields, but especially important to educators working with young people and children. Being in the field of teaching and interacting with students necessitates embodying a gentle and patient disposition, which can be difficult to acquire, but is worth it because of the strong influence it has on their lives and thus on the world as a whole. My current goal is to become an educator and work with youth to have a positive impact on their lives. Children are the future. Thus, through my career path and goal to become an educator, I will leave a positive mark on the world. Throughout my high school career, I have had a diverse range of experiences working with kids. From volunteering at different events, to participating in my high school's preschool program, to working as a math tutor, I have learned the importance of compassion and the effect it has on building children up and helping them grow. Working in the preschool program, I met a little boy who was rambunctious and excitable. The other teachers in the program saw him as disruptive and an annoyance, and although they were nice to him, their resistance and lack of understanding towards him was not beneficial to his learning or the class overall. However, as I made an effort to talk to him and befriend him, I realized that like many children, he yearned for attention and did not know a healthy way to go about it. Through my connection with him, I was able to provide for his needs, impacting him. I did not realize the extent of this, however, until one day late in the year. The class was structured so that we left in the middle of morning carpet time and to go to our next class. One day late in the year, the bell rang, and I got up to leave, but the child grabbed my hand and asked me to stay. I told him I could not, but I would see him the next day. The next day, he came in excited and yelled my name when he saw me. I began to pay more attention to the way he acted around me, and I realized there was a difference in his behavior when he interacted with me versus the other teachers in the classroom. If I was talking, he would listen, and he was much more positively involved in the class as the year went on. By treating him with kindness and compassion, I beneficially impacted his behavior and demeanor in the classroom, as well as building a relationship with him. But the type of relationship I built with him, and the impression it had, has not been an isolated event. Working at a summer camp with children, as a math tutor after school, and even just interacting with children in general, I have found that being compassionate and kind helps foster a relationship and has a positive impact on the child. As I work towards college and becoming a licensed educator, I will benefit my community by continually cultivating positive connections with students through a positive and understanding demeanor. Avani's power came from her disposition and the way she treated others. The meaningful relationships she built and the impact she had on others is apparent from what is written about her. Promoting her attitudes towards life and helping other kids just like her is something I am incredibly proud to do, and something that I truly believe will have a positive impact on the world.

My name is Gavin Dellaria, I'm looking to major in math education, and I am a transgender man. Together, these thoughts represent my ongoing journey of self-discovery. Although I can say it easily now, I wrestled for many years with my identity because it did not fit into the communities that I knew. While kind and loving, growing up transgender made it difficult to relate to those around me. I always felt different, my feelings about gender roles and my self-expression made me stand out. Being unique is a gift, but it can also be exhausting to exist without a community as support, especially when still discovering myself and how I was supposed to interact with the world around me. I always felt at odds with the world around, struggling to form deep connections and 'fit in' in any particular group. Although I was well liked and rather extroverted, my inability to relate to most people and their experiences left me with a sense of alienation and desperate loneliness. But in middle school, I began to meet people in the LGBTQ+ identity and see more representation in media. As I was exposed to more queer groups, I felt a sense of understanding and community that I had been missing. I had never been exposed to the LGBTQ+ community growing up in rural Texas, and its absence in education and my childhood had left a hole I did not realize was there. Finding my community saved my life. After years of feeling disconnected and alienated from those around me, the relationships and understanding I had yearned for flooded in. Songs and artists described exactly what I had been feeling, and when I told people how I felt, they listened, and they heard me. I had never felt heard before, and it was immaculate. By my junior year of high school, I had changed. My extroverted and confident demeanor was no longer a facade; I was comfortable with my identity and felt a strong connection to the community that had built me up. I wanted to help others like me, become a place of support and understanding. I became co-President of my school's Gender Sexuality Alliance, devoting my time to organizing events and meetings to create a sense of community for those who needed it, just like I had. I was invited to a leadership conference, and I spoke at faculty and school board meetings about LGBTQ+ equality and how to promote a sense of pride in our school community. Throughout by junior and senior year, I helped make important changes in my school, including the introduction of genderless bathrooms in the guidance office, streamlined name and pronoun changes in school systems, and increased accessibility to support resources for queer students. But where I really felt my presence was in the relationships I built with others, both at school and in my community. I loved working with people and building relationships, and I eventually got a job as a math tutor. My position allowed me to build numerous relationships with a diverse range of students, of all different ages and backgrounds. I encouraged my students, and I could see the impact I had on them, which gave me a sense of fulfillment I did not know was possible. Thus, I realized becoming an educator was my calling. Not only could I impact individual students, I could continue to make an impact on my community. After being inspired and encouraged by LGBTQ+ people, I have been able to find my identity and confidence and be an advocate in my community.

Before coming out as a transgender man, I dated a girl who identified as lesbian. She was the best person I knew. Other than just being my girlfriend, she was my best friend, a confidante, someone who was in my corner when things got rough. I loved her, I was proud of her, and I saw the impact she had on the world around her. She was inspirational. While at the time my LGBTQIA+ identity felt like a roadblock, something which prevented me from achieving. I thought that being gay, even though I claimed to be proud, was a hindrance that made it difficult to establish relationships or have a meaningful place in society. I blamed my identity for my struggles, until I met her. For her, being queer was something to celebrate, something that inspired her and gave her a sense of purpose and belonging. Even for those who did not have the same identity, who were different, her queerness was a point of connection. A place she could understand others from, because she could see the way their uniqueness and their individuality came through and celebrate it. She was confident in her identity, and this helped her to build confidence and connection with others. At the time, I was resentful of the world around me. I felt that it had excluded me, that it refused a place for me because of who I was. She was the first person to challenge these thoughts. Pushing me to recognize that if I hated the world, it could only reflect those same feelings back. So, I began to do a lot of work on myself. I began to take more risks, connect with others outside my bubble, and strive to find a place in the world for myself and others like me. When I couldn't find such a place, she was there, reminding me that I could help create one and be a part of something greater. This led to some of the greatest opportunities I had during high school. I became GSA co-president. I was invited to a leadership conference. I helped create and lead presentations at faculty and school board meetings about promoting educational equity and accepting all aspects of student identity. I was accepted into a student leadership program, which is still ongoing. It is wild to think now, that I was the one resistant to growing and connecting with others. Partially because most of my friends tease me for being overly outgoing and optimistic, but also because of the difference in situations my girlfriend and I were in at the time. While I attended one of the best public high schools in my state, her tiny rural high school was consistently receiving threats and struggling to make ends meet. My high school was actively working to make LGBTQIA+ students feel safer and have a better high school experience, while she was living through the rise of the 'Don't Say Gay' bill, as she lived in Florida at the time. My home life was stable, my parents had both gotten significant raises in their salary and we had just bought a new house. Her grandmother kicked her family out after her mother married another woman, and they were bounced around from family member to family member for more than a year. In the end, even after breaking up and growing apart, her dedication in the face of adversity has been one of the greatest sources of inspiration as I work to overcome adversity and make positive change for my community in the world around me as an activist.

My wellness is important not only because it is what ensures my happiness and success, but because it affects my impact on the world around me. I want to be a positive force in the world, and I have realized that I cannot make the impression I wish to, unless I am able to care for myself first. In Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, he argued that humans must fulfill their most basic needs before they are able to pursue higher fulfillment. Physical necessities, like nourishing food, clean water and air, and mental necessities, like stability and security, must be achieved before one is able to 'move up' in their lives and find more meaning. I believe that this meaning comes in many forms, but for me, its most important aspect is the ability to build positive relationships with others. Until I have ascertained a stable control over my own wellness, I cannot effectively connect with those around me. Taking a walk to get exercise and a breath of fresh air, eating plenty of delicious veggies and high protein, journaling about difficult feelings or talking to my therapist, I find ways to maintain my wellbeing. Through acts of selflove, I bolster my ability to show love and care for the world. As I want to be an educator, I understand how my disposition and care for myself manifests in my ability to do my job. I have been working as a math tutor for over a year now, and I have seen the way that taking care of my own health allows me to care for others. When tired, stressed, hungry, or generally unwell, I find that I am not as good of a teacher or mentor for my students. I have a harder time connecting with my students and coworkers, and I feel less of a purpose or sense of fulfillment. But when I have taken the time to ensure my wellbeing, that I am not exhausted or stressed, I both enjoy my job and I have a stronger impact on those around me. Learning to take naps if I need, get at least eight hours of sleep, and eat nutritional food has been both difficult and rewarding. In my schooling as well, I see the importance of taking care of my wellness. If I have not made the time to care for myself, mentally or physically, my work becomes harder and my grades slip. Eventually, the longer I go without proper self-care, the more work I have to do to catch up on both my personal wellness and my schoolwork. However, trying to balance a job with schoolwork, extracurriculars, and relationships has impacted my ability to ensure I am caring for my wellness. When schoolwork or responsibilities from my job as a tutor pile up and I have less free time, it is difficult to assure I am getting enough sleep or eating nutritiously, let alone limiting my stress. Time management, as a high school senior, has been difficult and affected my ability to care for myself. But as I've matured, I've realized impacts other people. Friends, families, and now those I tutor are affected by my ability to care for myself. Even as it becomes difficult, I understand its necessity. I cannot be the positive force I wish to be unless I am content with myself, and I am taken care of in both mind and body. I have discovered that my desire for connection with others is the magic key to maintaining my work life balance, my sleep, health, and general sense of wellbeing.

Education is one of the most powerful tools that we have to support success, and the relationship between educators and their students is one the best ways to promote it. From a young age, I felt supported by my teachers, and I valued the impact that they had on my life. However, I also recognized that many of my friends did not have the same relationships with their educators as I had with mine, and I wanted to find some way to improve this. To help them receive the same inspiration and encouragement that I had. This is where my drive to become a teacher originated. Thus, I began volunteering with children and trying to become a sense of support as best I could. Babysitting, teaching Sunday School, and volunteering at various summer camps and activities, I built relationships with the children I worked with. Seeing the impact I could have on them, through their excitement at seeing me and their increased confidence and joy, was the most fulfilling thing I had done. I began to realize that I wanted to make that fulfilling effect I could have a part of my life. In high school, I took the Child Development class my school offered. There, I got the chance to do hands on work with preschool aged children every day, which was much more consistent than any other work I had done. My class of high schoolers was small and consequently I often took a leadership role in the program. While I had enjoyed working with children and I knew I wanted it to be a part of my life, working in a leadership role in the classroom environment made it apparent that I wanted to make it my livelihood. That summer, I worked as a camp counselor at a local church with preschool to early elementary aged children. Most of my work at that point had been with these age groups, and I thought it was where I wanted to focus. Early childhood education was fulfilling, and I loved my interactions with my young friends. But then, I got a job as a math tutor at a local Mathnasium working with a much broader age range. There, I further realized the power an educator can have on their students, not only in their specified field, but in the world overall. Students from elementary to high school need support, but once they have it, they can achieve great things. I taught students how to do geometry, calculate using pi, use imaginary numbers, and watched their grades rise. But working with them, I also saw the impact I could have on their lives. The immeasurable, unquantifiable aspects of teaching. Increased confidence, creativity, and emotional understanding. Talking with children, showing them that you are working to understand them and support them in not only their educational journey but also in their life in general is often one of the most important aspects of encouraging success. Throughout my life, I have had many experiences which overall have pushed me into education. Wanting to have a positive impact and see those I work with have a successful and prosperous future is my drive for teaching.

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” Frederick Douglass Throughout my life, I have struggled with my mental health and its impact on my life. My journey to grow through these struggles has helped improve my connection with myself and find my identity, thus bolstering my relationships with others, my beliefs, and my dream of being a math teacher. In middle school, I wrestled with issues internally and externally. While my self-esteem and confidence fell, my friendships were changing faster than I could manage, my classes were suddenly much more difficult, and my home life was unstable. Money was tight, and as the oldest sibling of two parents who worked full time, I had to care for my younger siblings. At the time, I felt that I had no stable relationships or support systems other than a few teachers that supported me and a friend or two. Thus, I worked through most of middle school alone. I made progress in my mental health, but it took time. I was becoming an individual, figuring who I was and what my aspirations were with the help of influential teachers and a few budding friendships. Then, Covid happened. Not only was I struggling with isolation; I was also entering high school, moving, and figuring out my gender and sexuality. Any work that I had done to improve myself went out the window. I was back to base one. I was not, by any means, the only person struggling with mental health. According to Pew Research, about 4 in 10 Americans faced severe mental health impacts during this time. However, I still struggled alone. I did not feel connected to the world around, and I felt that I had no way to deal with the struggles I was facing. Eventually, my anxiety and depression became almost unmanageable. Not going out in public for so long, I had panic attacks any time I was around large groups of people and in-person school, which I tried for a few weeks, was not an option. I tried texting or calling people online, but even this was challenging and stressful, so I stopped. I seriously considered taking my life. Any time I had any increased level of stress- another school assignment, a fight with my mom, a falling out with a friend- I felt the urge to end things. Thoughts of self-harm or suicide choked me and crept into every part of my life. After struggling to eat enough or take care of myself for months, I finally decided that I needed a change. I was in my first serious relationship at the time, and my connection with that person made me realize that I had dreams. I wanted a future. I didn’t know what I wanted specifically, but I knew I wanted it to be happy. I began a long, arduous journey of self-discovery. Picking back up where I had left off in middle school, I investigated my interests. My passions. What made me tick, what made me happy. What foods I liked, where I wanted to travel, who I wanted to be. Self-discovery became motivation to both heal from a tumultuous past, become content with the present, and lay the groundwork for a positive future. However, my mental health issues had influenced my work on myself. I started with one of my favorite quotes, one from Frederick Douglas which reads “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” Although he was talking about slavery, I often think about the quote in the context of day-to-day struggles. Without the journey I went through to improve my mental health, I never would have discovered my dream to visit Mongolia or started making earrings or figured out that I liked filmography and joined my schools TV studio. I wouldn’t have built my self-respect and learned to set boundaries and communicate issues with others, all of which improved my relationships with others. Without my mental health journey, I would never have realized my passion for education. Pursuing math education as a degree, I remember all the times in the past a teacher was there for me when I was struggling. Even when I felt lonely or separated, I still had teachers like my seventh-grade science teacher or my second-grade teacher that I could go to. The way they influenced me inspired me to become that source of stability for students who were struggling. Not only does being a teacher allow me to help students attain an education that will help them have a bright future, but it also allows me to be a source of comfort and a place to go for youth that need it. Math specifically was something that I struggled with, and I often wonder if I would have been more successful if I had felt more encouragement from my teachers. Because I struggled so much, I hope to help students struggle less or learn better ways to deal with their struggles. Struggling with mental health is not something I would wish upon anyone. Not only do I still deal with these issues, but they also made it hard for me to enjoy many years of my life. However, I recognize that the struggles I went through helped me become the person I am today. Without them, I would lack fullness in my life and my identity. If I was able to talk to my younger self, I would tell him that it was okay that he was struggling, that things would get better, but he would need to work for it. “If there is no struggle,” I would remind him, “there is no progress.”

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” Frederick Douglass Throughout my life, I have struggled with my mental health and its impact on my life. My journey to grow through these struggles has helped improve my connection with myself and find my identity, thus bolstering my relationships with others, my beliefs, and my dream of being a math teacher. In middle school, I wrestled with issues internally and externally. While my self-esteem and confidence fell, my friendships were changing faster than I could manage, my classes were suddenly much more difficult, and my home life was unstable. Money was tight, and as the oldest sibling of two parents who worked full time, I had to care for my younger siblings. At the time, I felt that I had no stable relationships or support systems other than a few teachers that supported me and a friend or two. Thus, I worked through most of middle school alone. I made progress in my mental health, but it took time. I was becoming an individual, figuring who I was and what my aspirations were with the help of influential teachers and a few budding friendships. Then, Covid happened. Not only was I struggling with isolation; I was also entering high school, moving, and figuring out my gender and sexuality. Any work that I had done to improve myself went out the window. I was back to base one. I was not, by any means, the only person struggling with mental health. According to Pew Research, about 4 in 10 Americans faced severe mental health impacts during this time. However, I still struggled alone. I did not feel connected to the world around, and I felt that I had no way to deal with the struggles I was facing. Eventually, my anxiety and depression became almost unmanageable. Not going out in public for so long, I had panic attacks any time I was around large groups of people and in-person school, which I tried for a few weeks, was not an option. I tried texting or calling people online, but even this was challenging and stressful, so I stopped. I seriously considered taking my life. Any time I had any increased level of stress- another school assignment, a fight with my mom, a falling out with a friend- I felt the urge to end things. Thoughts of self-harm or suicide choked me and crept into every part of my life. After struggling to eat enough or take care of myself for months, I finally decided that I needed a change. I was in my first serious relationship at the time, and my connection with that person made me realize that I had dreams. I wanted a future. I didn’t know what I wanted specifically, but I knew I wanted it to be happy. I began a long, arduous journey of self-discovery. Picking back up where I had left off in middle school, I investigated my interests. My passions. What made me tick, what made me happy. What foods I liked, where I wanted to travel, who I wanted to be. Self-discovery became motivation to both heal from a tumultuous past, become content with the present, and lay the groundwork for a positive future. However, my mental health issues had influenced my work on myself. I started with one of my favorite quotes, one from Frederick Douglas which reads “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” Although he was talking about slavery, I often think about the quote in the context of day-to-day struggles. Without the journey I went through to improve my mental health, I never would have discovered my dream to visit Mongolia or started making earrings or figured out that I liked filmography and joined my schools TV studio. I wouldn’t have built my self-respect and learned to set boundaries and communicate issues with others, all of which improved my relationships with others. Without my mental health journey, I would never have realized my passion for education. Pursuing math education as a degree, I remember all the times in the past a teacher was there for me when I was struggling. Even when I felt lonely or separated, I still had teachers like my seventh-grade science teacher or my second-grade teacher that I could go to. The way they influenced me inspired me to become that source of stability for students who were struggling. Not only does being a teacher allow me to help students attain an education that will help them have a bright future, but it also allows me to be a source of comfort and a place to go for youth that need it. Math specifically was something that I struggled with, and I often wonder if I would have been more successful if I had felt more encouragement from my teachers. Because I struggled so much, I hope to help students struggle less or learn better ways to deal with their struggles. Struggling with mental health is not something I would wish upon anyone. Not only do I still deal with these issues, but they also made it hard for me to enjoy many years of my life. However, I recognize that the struggles I went through helped me become the person I am today. Without them, I would lack fullness in my life and my identity. If I was able to talk to my younger self, I would tell him that it was okay that he was struggling, that things would get better, but he would need to work for it. “If there is no struggle,” I would remind him, “there is no progress.”

Math is infamously difficult and stressful for students. Much of this difficulty stems not from the subject, but from the lack of encouragement and inspiration that youth receive from adults in their life. However, I believe that by building relationships with students, creating safe spaces for them, and working through personal issues with them while providing positive and constructive encouragement I can inspire the youth I teach to not only be confident successful in one field, but to have confidence and be successful in all areas of their life. Throughout elementary school, I was never encouraged in my math classes. Although I received support and praise in other subjects, as a gifted reader math was never considered "my specialty" so I was led to believe that I was not good at it. This continued. In middle school, I was placed in the advanced math class, but I was still never inspired or supported by my teachers. My sixth-grade math teacher was actively cruel, ridiculing me when I got answers wrong and refusing to help me figure out problems because "he had already explained it." My next teacher was a nice woman who always had a smile plastered on her face. But although she was polite, she never made an effort to connect with me or help me either. Even though math was only one aspect of my life, my lack of confidence in the subject from the lack of support I received impacted my ability to learn and my mental health. It took until high school pre-calc that I built a connection with and felt truly inspired by a math teacher. As I began to understand math more and built confidence in the subject, I realized my desire for helping other students feel the same way. Soon, I got a job as a math tutor. I quickly realized how many of the youth I taught struggled with their confidence and self-efficacy and how it impacted their ability to learn, just like it had for me when I was younger. Instead of my goal being limited to just teaching math, I have realized that inspiring students by building relationships with them, praising their successes (even outside of math) and treating them with respect not only boosts their math abilities, but also their self-confidence and abilities elsewhere. By supporting my students, I hope to inspire a successful and confident life.

Identity is often exposed through moments of pure, unplanned emotion and feeling. Much of my art, since I was young, has been focused on celebration of humanity and human identity in all of its diverse and wonderful nature. Since first picking up a camera my sophomore year of high school, I have been trying to use the art as a method of understanding our global identity and connection to each other as individuals and human beings. Through my exploration of the art, I not only learned to portray how I felt about the world and its interconnectedness, but I also gained a stronger sense of self and purpose. When taking series, I often utilize portraiture or use people as my subjects to try and capture identity and individuality in creative ways. I want my photos to be specific and meaningful, and in the past, I would often craft meticulous plans, giving specific instructions to my subjects to try and create some sort of exactness. I thought that controlling every aspect of my composition and subject would produce the most effective final piece. But I soon realized that my best photos, the ones which illustrated the idea of complex identity that I was seeking out, and the photos that connected the most with the viewer were usually the unplanned ones. The joyous laughter in between shots, the impromptu dancing on the street, the quiet glance away from the camera caught with a slip of my finger on a button. Captured on a simple camera, these moments which would otherwise be forever lost were presented in vivid, vulnerable detail that depicted everything I was searching for in my art. Through life's unscripted moments, the most raw and beautiful parts of our collective human identity are exposed. Realizing the importance and the impact of these pieces caused a major change in my life. I began to revel in the little, quiet moments of joy which seemed to suddenly appear all around me. Appreciating them lead me to understand their importance as a method of connection to and between others. My identity as a part of a complex, diverse and yet brilliantly connected community became something I took pride and joy in. Although it feels simple now, it took my artwork to realize it. Every joyful, beautiful moment is a carefully crafted symbol of our human identity.

I remember the chalkboard easel sitting in my childhood home’s garage. With a red plastic frame and a bright yellow chalk holder, it honed my dreams and aspirations from a young age. My stuffed animals and Barbie dolls were my first students, sitting on the concrete floor and paying perfect attention (or so I imagined) to the shapes and scribbles I drew on the board, mimicking my teachers at school as I used my imagination to interact with my toy class. Unknowingly, my early lessons in the garage began to transition into something more. As my parents bought my younger sibling and I books and ensured that our learning was enhanced at home, my peers in school struggled. Lacking support from home and from our poor, rural Texas elementary school, many of my classmates struggled to reach important reading, math, and general educational milestones. Even at my young age, I felt that it was unfair that I was labeled the ‘smart kid’ and doted on by adults, while my friends struggled with work and were treated much differently. Although I was proud of myself, it was hard to maintain pride in myself when I felt that those around me could also excel if they were just supported a little bit better. I began to use what I had, my gifts and the support and materials I received, to help my friends. In one instance in the third grade, a friend and I went into the woods behind my house so I could teach her addition. I scratched problems into the soft earth with a stick and was kind and patient when she struggled, but by the end, she understood much better and I was incredibly proud of both of us, and our success. Childhood empathy matured into something more passionate and intense. I had, from an earlier age, already seen the inequality in education and the impact it had had on my peers. As a teen, I began to realize that education was a powerful form of social justice and a way to strive for equality, as well as something I enjoyed. In early 2023, after working and volunteering with mainly young children, I got a job as a math tutor with mainly middle school and late elementary school students. At this point, although I knew I enjoyed education, I was not considering it as a career path. All too commonly I heard discouraging messages from adults and phrases like “those who can’t do, teach”. The lack of respect for teachers, both from others and from the systems that employed them dissuaded me. However, working as a math tutor reignited my passion for education and its use as a tool to promote equality and social justice. Many of the students who struggled the most with their math work thrived once they received encouragement and support from tutors, including myself. Their success in math translated into other areas, improving their confidence and giving them a higher locus of control. Realizing the effect that a consistent and solid education had on kids reawakened my passion for teaching. I felt a sense of purpose and self-satisfaction when I saw the positive effect I could have on children. Education, as a means of benefiting others and improving the world around me, has helped me find a sense of purpose in my life. Pursuing education as a career path is something that I am ready and excited for and something that I have been persistently passionate about throughout my life.