To me, generosity means listening, helping, and caring for other individuals whenever they need me. In my life, I have always been the person who everyone else calls when they have an issue or a decision to make. I have always put whatever I was doing on hold to help that person or in some cases, all they want is someone to listen to. Some problems may have been huge, such as their parents getting a divorce or someone having an illness in the family, while some have been silly such as having a pimple before prom or some boy or girl not liking them back. But, in my opinion, no matter how big or small I think their issue is, to them that issue is the most important item in their life. Years from now they might look back and laugh at how worked up they were about their outfit for a middle school dance, but at the moment it meant the world to them. That is why I decided to become a teacher. I want to be selfless in my life and put my students ahead of me. I want to be their ear if they have what other people think are silly issues or if they have major issues. I want to help them pick a career and a college. The more I can lesson other people's struggles in life, the better I feel about my life. I might not always understand their issue or even agree with it, but when dealing with their issue I think about what would be best for them, not best for me.

I am a senior at Kutztown University and am majoring as a secondary education mathematics teacher with a minor in computer science. My goal in life is to become either a mathematics or computer science teacher to students in grades seventh through twelfth. I plan to use my knowledge in STEM to help my community in any way that I can. First of all, wherever I end up teaching, my goal is to provide a positive, safe, fun, and healthy classroom for all students to thrive and love STEM subjects as much as I do. While in college, I learned of many women who were told during their high schools years that careers in STEM were for males and that women should not be a part of it. Many of those students ended up not continuing a career in STEM. I was horrified to hear that, so I plan to make my classroom environment different so all genders, religions, and races feel as though they can achieve whatever dream they have. I also plan on volunteering with my future school's TSA (Technology Student Association) team. From what I have learned, most schools near me only have males that run TSA, but I want to be a woman figure in that club, so the students see that anyone can be a part of that club. While in high school, I was a triple varsity player in the sports volleyball, basketball, and softball. I plan to use my athletism to help my community and whatever community I join as a teacher. As for my own community, they have a youth league program that I plan on becoming a volunteer head or assistant coach at to help the younger students learn and love sports. I grew up with my father and mother being co-head coaches during my youth league years, and all I can remember is the fun, joy, and love they brought to the team. Our team was always the team cheering and having fun no matter if we were in first, last, winning, or losing. The waitlist would be always high with requests to be on their team and that is what I want to give to the community. Allow children to have fun while learning the fundamental skills of sports. I also would like to volunteer with whatever sports my future school has. I will volunteer with school teams, intramurals, or clubs for sports. I want to give the rest of my life in benefiting my community and the community where I will teach in by helping guide the children in their love of STEM and sports. Children are the future, so I cannot think of a better way to spend my life than giving my time to help children succeed. I feel that the more children that can succeed, the greater the future of the world will be for years to come.

As most students will probably say my biggest adversity in life that I overcame was my Spring 2020 semester when COVID 19 hit. I take my schooling very seriously and when everything moved online that semester it was really hard on me. I had the two most difficult mathematics courses at Kutztown University, Synthetic Geometry and Abstract Algebra, and were struggling with them before we even went online, but online learning made it even worse. Before we moved online, I took an Abstract Algebra test and received a B+ on the test, this was the first time in my life to not receive an A on a test and I did not know how to handle it. I studied so hard, but still could not fully understand the material. This was the first time in my life that I admitted to myself that I might need help from my professors to achieve the A that I wanted. I started going to both professors during all of their office hours and the courses were starting to make more sense to me, but then COVID hit. Both of my professors approached online learning very differently, my Abstract Algebra professor continued the class and office hours on Zoom, while my Synthetic Geometry professor started emailing us the notes and canceled all office hours, the only time we used Zoom in that class was for tests and the final. I was so scared I had no way to get the extra help I needed to succeed in the course. I especially needed to be taught the material, I could not understand how I was supposed to learn one of the hardest subjects by just reading notes that were sent to me. About a week later my college emailed everyone and said that due to the unforeseen circumstances they were going to offer Pass or Fail for a course if that was what we thought was best for the class. That meant that if we got a C or higher in any course we could take the Pass and nothing would go into our GPA. I did not want to lose my GPA, so I had a choice to make. Should I take the easy way out like all of my friends did and easily get a C, take the Pass, and keep my 4.0 GPA untouched, or attempt to still get an A in the course. I knew in my heart that I would not feel right if I did not give a hundred percent and continue to try for an A on my own. I went with six hours of sleep a night for the rest of the semester, but I received an A in both courses and kept my 4.0 GPA. I learned through that experience that I can learn through reading notes, which I did not know I could and I learned how determined I really was. I gained respect for myself knowing I did not take the easy way out. I am a senior this year with a major in Secondary Education Mathematics with a minor in Computer Science. My educational goal is to graduate with a 4.0 GPA and my career goal is to become a math or computer science teacher for grades seventh through twelfth. I want to help students thrive in those courses, teach them their own determination in whatever they want to do with their lives, and help them never take the easy way out.

I plan to leverage technology to improve the world by getting students interested in STEM-related fields through the use of technology. My whole life I knew that I wanted to become a mathematics teacher, but it was not until my senior year in high school that I fell in love with technology and computer science. My high school math teacher basically made me sign up for his computer science class because he thought I would like it, but I thought he was crazy. The minute I started programming I loved it and knew that I wanted to continue to learn more about it. This course lead me to major in secondary education focusing on mathematics with a minor in computer science. As a first-generation student, I was worried about taking on both mathematics and computer science, but my professors have been great in helping me balance both difficult subjects. My education professors learned of my love for technology and have shown me multiple tools to use in my classroom to help fuel the love of STEM in future students. I have learned amazing tools, one of them being Code Monkey, which is a great website to get students started in programming. My professors advised me to take web designing, which has allowed me to create my own teacher website, rather than having to use standard teacher pages. This allows my class to be more unique than other classrooms where all of the teachers are using the same ordinary teacher websites. My biggest goal in life is to educate students in the STEM fields of mathematics and technology. I want to share the love of those two subjects with my students the same way my high school teacher did. He got me to love computer science and want to pursue a minor in it, and that is what I want to do for my students. I want to encourage as many students as possible to pursue degrees in STEM fields. I feel, that the more students we can get interested and knowledgeable in STEM the better the world will be. I plan to leverage technology in my classroom and get my students to feel as if using technology is second nature for them. Technology is the future of the world and the more students and people we have fluent and competent in technology the greater this world will be. I am excited to educate the minds of my future students with all of the possibilities technology will bring to not only them but the improvement of the world.

To me, the word legacy means carrying on my family traditions, values, morals, and beliefs. This is my meaning of legacy because I feel that is the best way to continue their lives once they are gone. I have loved every minute of my upbringing and my family has impacted my life heavily. They taught me my work ethic, stamina, dedication, teamwork, confidence, and basically, they showed me who they are. The day I was born my mother quit her job to be with me twenty four seven, and from that day on my family never missed a moment of my life. They all gave up their regular lives the day I was born and have made me the center from then on. Whatever I was interested in, so were they. I had the best support group growing up, allowing me to reach my dreams. It is amazing to always know that you have two people who will show up and support you no matter what. I got to see my parents become almost second parents to most of my friends growing up. My parents are unique in every way, but one of the biggest ways is that neither one of them have every drank a drop of alcohol, which all of my friends could never believe. But, because of them, I have seen fifteen teens stop drinking because they saw how much fun two grown adults could have without drinking. I understand fifteen is not a huge number, but my parents actions did change the lives of those few, which in my mind was heroic. I will be grateful to my parents until the day I no longer exist. My whole life has been spent trying to make them proud because I could never even imagine them being disappointed in me. I have lived my whole life with two of the most selfless people I know, so my goal in life is continue their cycle. I have and plan on never drinking a drop of alcohol, and am trying to be as selfless as they are. I wanted to choose a career path that would be the best in trying to continue their legacy. The career that I picked was a secondary mathematics teacher. My mom and I have always loved math, and this way I could be with children almost every day. I understand not every child has parents like mine, so I want to be an adult figure who they can trust and feel safe with. I want to provide students with a safe classroom, where they can learn and thrive. They will not be judged by stereotypes, race, religion, but treated with fairness. This is my way of trying to make my parents legacy live in as many people as possible. If I can instill my parents values, beliefs, morals, and traditions in as many students as I can, then I know their legacy will live on forever. It is the least I can do for my parents considering everything they have done for me.

I am majoring in Secondary Education with a concentration in mathematics and a minor in computer science and I will be student teaching next year. I normally work as a tutor for my college during the day to earn money to pay for my tuition, but I will not be able to tutor for them this year because I will be out in a high school or middle school during the day. I would get a part-time job at night, but I have to be in the school until 3 to 4 and then I have class at night from 5 to 8, so I would not be able to get one. I would also have trouble working on the weekends because I will have to spend most of the weekend working on my lesson plans for my student teaching. Student teaching is the most important part of my education, so I would like to be able to put everything I have into it without having to worry as much about how I am going to pay for it. I choose a career that will not make me much money in life, but I choose it to help people. I want to provide students with a safe place to learn and thrive. I want students to be able to reach their full potential. This scholarship will help me be able to make my dream possible and allow me to make my future students' dreams possible.

The biggest role model in my life has been my mother. Ever since the day I was born she has not missed anything. She has been to every awards ceremony, field trip, school event, and sports game I have ever been in. Every homework assignment or studying I have had to do she has been right by my side. This has made the most impact on my life because I always know that I have someone who has my back, someone who believes in me, and someone that will do anything to help me. When I was little she always pushed me to put work first, never procrastinate, try my hardest, and never give up. I was always told that as long as I tried my best she would never get upset no matter what the outcome is. This has pushed me to try my hardest because I have always wanted her to be proud of me. During high school, my goal was to get Valedictorian, but I knew that would be a long and hard struggle. My mom helped me along the way and I was able to reach Valedictorian and give the speech at graduation. When I looked out at the crowd, I saw all different kinds of faces, my teachers, administration, friends, and family, but the face that I looked at for the entire speech was my mother's. When I saw how excited and proud she was, I knew that all of my late nights and hard work finally paid off. I also received the athlete of the year award from my high school and I remembered all of the days and nights she and I would be out practicing sports for hours and then going inside to do schoolwork and thinking, I would never be where I am if it was not for her. Being her daughter has lead me to chose the career path of becoming an educator for seventh through twelfth-grade student students in either mathematics or computer science. These were our two favorite subjects during school, so I thought it would be perfect. I cannot wait to provide students with the kind of love, generosity, and guidance that my mother has given me over the years. I want to gives students a safe, encouraging, and positive classroom environment where they can reach their potential. Not all students are blessed with having a parent that can be there twenty-four-seven with them. Parents have to work or might have other children to take care of and I understand that. This is my way of providing those students with someone to support them in their endeavors. If one day, I can be half a role model to my students as my mother has been to me, I will have fulfilled my goal in life. The biggest challenge that I have faced in life so far has been COVID 19. I am a very social person, but I have a low immune system disease, so I have not left the house much since this pandemic has hit. This has caused me to have to take all online classes for the past year. When online classes started last Spring, it was very rough for me. I cried a lot and I honestly thought that I was losing my mind. The only reason I have gotten through it has been because of my mother. She has tried to keep my routine as close to the same as possible, and she has basically turned my house into college. Some of my peers are now on depression medication due to COVID 19 or seeing therapists. All I can think for them is that I wish they had a mother like mine to help them through any rough time. The day I was born my mother gave up her whole world and made it about me, which I will always be grateful for. My goal in life is to make her proud and show her how much all of her hard work means to me. I am the person I am for one reason only, my mother.

I am going to be a Senior next year at Kutztown University and I am majoring in Secondary Education with a concentration in Mathematics and a minor in Computer Science. Next year at school I will mostly be student teaching in a school 40 miles around campus. I am so excited to finally be at the point in my career for student teaching, but I am a little nervous because being at a school all day will cause me to lose my part-time job at the University of tutoring and will cause me to have to pay for tons of gas because I will have to drive to and from my school district daily. I currently have a 4.0 at Kutztown and graduated Valedictorian from my High School of Oley Valley with a GPA of 4.56. I am so excited to be able to teach students everything I know about Mathematics and Computer Science and get them equally as excited and interested in STEM fields as I am. The biggest influence in my life has been my mother. Ever since I was born she has been right by my side the entire time encouraging and helping me to become the best I can be. She never missed a field trip, an awards ceremony, or anything at school, and she made it to every game I have ever had for all years of me playing three sports. Whenever I needed help on schoolwork she would sit by me and help me no matter if it was morning, noon, or night. She made me believe that I could be whatever I wanted to believe and that I could achieve anything. She knew I loved math and computer science so she did everything she could to encourage me by going to math and science museums, entering me in contests, and getting me the best laptop for computer science and math. This has shaped my career choice because, in my opinion, she was a better educator than anyone of my teachers in school or in college. She made me understand how important it is to have your own personal cheerleader in life, and how knowing someone believes you are capable of achieving something makes you also believe that you can achieve it. I wanted to share the way that she taught me with as many people as I could, and I feel that teaching is going to allow me to do that. I want to help my students the way my mother has helped me, and make a space where they feel safe and encouraged to pursue in their passion. As a woman going into STEM fields I knew there would be challenges, especially being a first-generation college student, but my mother has helped me reach my senior year. This is exactly what I want to provide students with, the confidence and knowledge to achieve whatever goals they set, hopefully in STEM fields.

Ever since the first grade, I loved math and knew that I wanted to become a mathematics teacher. Everyone told me that my dream would change over the years and that I would want to follow a different path. I am now in my third year of college going to a degree in secondary education mathematics, and I couldn't imagine doing anything else with my life. One of the main reasons I have always loved mathematics is the fact that it is always constant. I am not good with change, so being having something in my life that is always constant, such as 2+2 is 4, is very important for me. During the past year with many struggles due to COVID 19 and online learning, my mathematic courses were honestly a huge help in getting me through everything. My whole life changed when COVID 19 hit, and it was very challenging for me to stay positive during that time, but mathematics was there for me. When I got super stressed with everything constantly changing, I would sit down and work on my math work and it would calm me down. I knew that the problem I was doing was something that was constant years before and will be constant for years to come, and that made me understand that the world will once again be back to as close to normal as possible. The principles of mathematics have basically shaped my entire view of the world. I have always loved when teachers explained how to do a problem or the steps to a problem in a very detailed explanation. The more detailed they explained it, the better I could complete that type of problem and understand it. This has caused me to view all of my life like this. Whenever I am explaining something, giving directions, or telling a story to someone I treat it like I am explaining a math problem. I treat every situation like it's the first time the person is hearing about it, and explain it from there. Overall, mathematics has inspired me and shaped my entire future. I want to dedicate my life to teaching students how important math can be in their lives, and give students an outlet in their lives that will always be constant and they can always count on it. I want them to be able to feel the thrill of solving a difficult math problem, or the excitement of understanding a concept that is new. Throughout my education, many of my peers were shocked that I wanted to pursue a career in mathematics because they have all felt that is a difficult subject, but I want to make students turn away from this stereotype and learn and love math by seeing how truly wonderful and useful it is in the world.