“What do you wanna be when you grow up?” Grandmas, grandpas, uncles, aunties, and cousins asked me that question all the time whenever we had family gatherings, and they’d all get the same answer, “Uh I don’t know yet.” It got less cute when I was sixteen. My parents probably felt annoyed as the answer remained, how could they not be? They paid $90,000 so I could attend a private Catholic school since sixth grade and their son just didn’t know what career to pursue. Then junior year came. First day of school and it was the last period of the day, and I had Physics. I was never the biggest fan of science, I was way more of a history guy. The Physics teacher was a young guy who was born seven years before me and my classmates, so a couple of steps separated the generation gap between him and us. Within the following weeks, I learned he loved to play video games, he watched anime, and he would always make the simplest of questions a student asked him turn into a rambling with an overload of information. “I like this guy. He’s like me.” One day, I was getting picked up at 4:00. I never stayed after school that late, so I decided to wait in my teacher’s room as usual. I entered and some of my classmates were there as well as a couple upperclassmen but no one was there to ask my teacher for help. “Can I stay here until I get picked up, Mister?” “Sure! Open house is tonight so I’ll be here for a while.” I was sitting at a desk while on my phone until I just decided to ask my teacher, “Mister, what’s your favorite video game?” Him being him, he just couldn’t pick one and instead listed off his top favorites and gave his reasons why he enjoyed them so much. I gave my thoughts on the games he listed, then I listed off mine. We did the same thing with movies, shows, foods, and restaurants. We kept going until 4:00 came and it barely felt like time had passed. Our shared interests and fun conversations weren’t the only thing I liked about him. He taught in a way that made me optimistic and willing to learn, despite his class being a science subject. I still struggled to grasp concepts but he was always open to questions and did his best to explain them. He understood that our work could pile up and didn’t want us to stress about his class. That was a teacher that I knew cared about us as students and our well being. As the year went on, I had a revelation. I thought back to all the conversations I had with my teacher and also how passionate he was when teaching us about physics and I thought, “That could be fun.” “So what do you wanna do after you graduate?” My uncle asked me when I was at his house during winter break of junior year. I hesitated, thinking that maybe I’m not completely sure if that’s what I want to become, what if a different option comes to mind in the future, maybe I should give him the “I don’t know yet” answer. Instead, very different words escaped my mouth. “I want to be a teacher.” I want to do what my teacher did, and create bonds with students, have conversations with them that make them enjoy the school environment. That is why I want to become a teacher.