One personal finance lesson that I've found important is to save more money than I spend. From every paycheck I get, half instantly goes into my savings account. From my savings account I then transfer some funds into investing. Half of my paycheck stays in my checking account, but every two weeks an additional $50 gets transferred into savings. Having money in savings is important because you never know when you're going to need it. For example, my car broke down and thankfully I had more than enough to cover the expenses to fix it thanks to my savings account. Good spending habits is a skill that is important to learn from a young age.

Growing up, I didn’t know what career I wanted to pursue. It always scared me seeing my friends have their entire lives planned out knowing that I was essentially figuring it out as I went along. I knew I wanted to help people, but didn’t know how. I’ve always loved learning and teaching others, which helped me realize that teaching would be an excellent career. My high school English teacher especially inspired me to pursue teaching because he made me see that teachers don’t just teach, they also help their students grow as individuals. I went on to take a class called Tomorrow’s Teachers which confirmed that teaching was the right career for me. After teaching elementary schoolers for a brief period of time, I realized that I wanted to work with young adults. Psychology has always fascinated me and will definitely give me the knowledge to become a great teacher, which is why I will be majoring in psychology when I transfer to Temple University in the fall. Outside of my professional goals, I love reading, music, and traveling. Dystopian novels used to be my go-to, however, now I find myself reading books that deal with social issues. The last novel I read was Refugee by Alan Gratz. I loved the book because it put you in the shoes of three different refugee children from different eras. It is incredible to see how these young children were forced to act as adults and persevere despite the life-threatening situations they had to escape from. It is also extremely upsetting to know that there are children in the world currently in similar situations. From many of the most recent books I’ve read, the most inspiring moments have been when people went out of their way to help others. In Refugee, for example, people risked their lives to aid refugees. Seeing humanity come together to help others gives me a sense of hope for the future. I want to be someone who has a positive impact on others. Through teaching, I feel as though I can positively influence my students. Not only will I encourage my students to love learning by making my class engaging, but I will also serve as a support system by making myself available when they are struggling both inside and outside of the classroom. Young adulthood is a very challenging time in most people’s lives, which is why it is important to have a solid support system. I want to be a part of that support system.

For the vast majority of my life, I have dreamt of being the first in my family to attend a university, Temple University being the ultimate goal. I am blessed to have grown up surrounded by an incredible support system. My hard-working Polish immigrant mother especially pushed me to achieve my goals in furthering my education. I’ve always loved learning, and knew that I would excel in a University setting. Starting off at Mercer County Community College has allowed me to further explore my interests and further solidify my career goals. Although I was certain that I wanted to go to college, I wasn’t always sure what career to pursue. I have always known that I wanted to go into a profession that helped people in some way, but for a while I felt lost trying to determine what this career would be exactly. I considered teaching, but dismissed the idea due to poor experiences with many of my middle school teachers. That is up until freshman year of high school when I met my English teacher Mr. Petrushun. Mr. Petrushun was not only passionate about educating, but it was evident that he cared deeply for his students as well. Mr. Petrushrun helped me in more ways than I can explain. One of his graded assignments was called a Writer's Notebook, which essentially was a diary for his students. The only criteria was that we write. It could be about anything we wanted, and many of my classmates including myself used it as a way to reflect. At the end of each month, Mr. Petrushun collected our notebooks and left us all extremely kind and reassuring messages. He kept everything private, allowing his students to truly write about whatever was on their minds. I still have my Writer's Notebook, and look back to the words of encouragement Mr. Petrushun left me. Transitioning from middle school into high school was hard on my mental health, so this assignment helped immensely. On the days when I especially was having a hard time and didn’t want to be at school, I knew I could always go to Mr. Petrushun. He gave me great life advice, and encouraged me to follow my dreams. I looked forward to his class because his teaching style kept me and all of my classmates engaged and entertained. Up until this class, I was used to the traditional classroom setting where students sit and teachers lecture. Mr. Petrushun had his students moving around and fully engaged in his lessons. I learned more in his class than I have in any other class. At the same time, I had the most fun in his class than I have in any other class. It was about halfway through the year when I realized that I wanted to be a teacher just like Mr. Petrushun. Teachers aren’t only there to teach, but they can have a positive impact on the lives of their students. Mr. Petrushun helped me not only navigate my transition from middle school to high school, but he helped me decide on a future career. I now know that as a teacher I can help my students not only learn, but help them grow as individuals. I want to be a teacher that my students feel they can go to when they are struggling. I want my students to look forward to coming to my class.