"Quinn Huyg, I am an Elementary Education major from Middleton, Idaho!" If you have been a student, you have memorized this statement, likely on your first day. Name, Major, Where you are from. Often, after stating my major as elementary education with a bold smile, I am met with a few "brave!" or "I could never" responses under the breath of my peers. These responses always confused me; I never saw myself as anything but an educator, and I have never thought of considering something else. I thought that this was the standard for University students; I thought that we all knew exactly what we wanted to do, why we wanted to do it, and were eager to get into the real world and do the darn thing after 13 years of education. This is not the case for most of my peers, however. In third grade, everything clicked. I had done the typical child "thing" of claiming that I wanted to be anything under the sun, an Astronaut, a Veterinarian, or the President of the United States, yet a teacher is the claim that stuck. When I entered Mrs. McCormick's third-grade classroom, I felt at home. Her space was warm and welcoming, colorful, and clearly a safe and fun environment in which I would learn about how a hamburger moved through the human body, different kinds of bats, and Ancient Rome. I remember being engaged in her classroom, feeling like I had the space to mess up and learn from it, and valuing the time I spent working independently. Looking back on this time, I can see that my feelings were more than just enjoying third grade. Mrs. McCormick created a learning environment in her classroom that I carried with me throughout my educational career. Having a teacher early on who taught me how to enjoy learning set the foundation for the student that I am. During my senior year of high school, I returned to Mrs. Mccormick's classroom as a Teacher's Aide and fell in love with education all over again. I lived for the moments that I would come into her classroom, getting to read the kids a book or teach a mini-lesson about fractions, working one-on-one with students who were struggling or in a small group setting. I even enjoyed the time I spent making copies, laminating, and grading spelling tests. I learned that I loved every aspect of education and working with students, not just third-grade content. There is a relief of knowing that you are doing precisely what you are meant to do, and that is education for me. I understand that this "click" does not happen for every student. Many students wrestle with their "meant to be" throughout and long after college. I am grateful for the ability to confidently say that I will be a teacher and carry that with honor. Through all the challenging moments I will inevitably face, I know that "teacher" is who I am meant to be. "Quinn Huyg. Elementary Education. Middleton, Idaho." Under their breath, comments about how "they could never" turn to smiles attached to statements of "that is so perfect for you" and "you will be an amazing teacher." I cannot express in words the excitement I carry as I pursue this dream that I had at nine years old. Nine-year-old Quinn is so proud of the teacher I am becoming.

The children we have in our classrooms mean the world to us. This is evident as many teachers will off handedly refer to their students as "my kids." There is a love for children that must accompany a passion for education when working in elementary schools. I have noticed over my time spent in classrooms and shadowing teachers, that they often have negative feelings about having recess duty, though it is important for us to be actively engaged in all things happening on the playground at all times. Children are energetic and joyful, they run and play during recess, and the duty of a teacher to have eyes on all students is a big task. For a student, the playground may be the best part of the day, and we as teachers need to ensure that children are safe at all times. The safety of these children is the number one priority of teachers. The thought put into these play structures at public elementary schools is often less than enough. It is easy for a school district to choose to cut costs by implementing bark on the playground rather than a softer material, or not repairing broken structures. When we are working with a district that can't afford to prioritize the safety of our children, it is more so our job to ensure that there are adults near by every play structure to ensure the highest level of safety for the children that we are responsible for. Play does not always need to be aggressive and end in a bump or bruise, and this is an easy fix when we consider recess staff awareness, availability and abundance. School districts also need to be able to protect students when choosing material for these structures. The topic of spending more money anywhere in a school is controversial, as its difficult to ask for funding to be moved away from classrooms, the repairs inside of the school, hiring teachers to alleviate over crowded classrooms, etc. There is always somewhere that the money needs to go, but a playground is an escape for the child. Students are eager to participate at recess time, and they should be free to run and jump and play just as much as they can in the short period of time that they have. We need students to be protected in every way possible, by every person involved in their time on the playground.

Hi! My name is Quinn Huyg, and I am pursuing a bachelor's degree in elementary education with an emphasis on literacy at Boise State University. I have always known that I wanted to teach. When I was young, I always wanted to be in the classroom and learn, and as I grew, I still loved the classroom but had a passion for understanding how the minds of young children worked and how they learn. I have never doubted that I was made to be a teacher. I plan to become a third-grade teacher when I graduate in the fall of 2026. The college experience thus far has been exciting. I have been given the space to figure out who I am while pursuing my dreams and starting my life. I have always thought of being a teacher, and as I take steps to do so, I find myself more and more excited as the days go by and I get closer to becoming the teacher I always dreamed I'd be. College, at the same time, is hard, it's expensive, it's new and scary. I have loved every step of the journey, but I cannot help but fear the years ahead of me. I had always dreamed of going out of state for college, and as the time to decide approached, I realized this would not be an option due to my financial situation. I do have the support of my parents, but I pay my tuition. I chose Boise State because of the affordability and the in-state tuition. Throughout my senior year and the following summer, I worked two jobs and picked up odd jobs here and there. I did not want to go into debt to receive my education. I saved two years of tuition before entering college, but the financial commitment of college is still daunting. I often joke about the reality of the price of college compared to the salary of most teachers in our area. I worry constantly about the cost of my final year of college, as I will not be able to work as I will be in a classroom full time unpaid. I hope to save the money I have set aside to pay for those two semesters quickly approaching. The sacrifice of pursuing this degree is brave in itself, and it is also a testament to the passion I have for education.

I am dedicated to understanding education. I have had a passion for education and working with students since I was young. I have always talked about the way a student can be influenced heavily by a teacher who is committed to them. I have always believed that something should be said about how a teacher teaches. As a second-semester education student, I have considered the kind of teacher I want to be, weighing the benefits of the hundreds of different opinions about how you should teach. I have come to an ever-changing conclusion that my students will ultimately decide the kind of teacher I will soon become. I want to be someday a teacher that students refer to when discussing who has impacted them. I have considered this teacher in my own life. She was my 3rd-grade teacher, Mrs. McCormick. She taught more than just curriculum; she taught empathy, friendship, and conflict management, and she taught us how to be mature. She adjusted her teaching to the class that she had. Later in my educational career, I returned to volunteer in her classroom, and the only consistency I noticed was her constant evaluation of her students and the things they needed. I was in her class in 2013, an all-girls class, and I returned in 2022. Her class was both boys and girls; that change was big enough. She adjusted the curriculum to work in conversations of conflict specific to things happening in the classroom. The teacher I plan to be is one who loves her students heavily. I plan to be a teacher more than willing to adapt to their students and their needs than set in her ways. The most important thing about education is adaptation. There is no way that I will ever be the perfect teacher for every single student. That said, I am beyond committed to making it possible for every student to learn and enjoy learning in my classroom. I aim to inspire students to know their value in and outside their educational careers. I plan for every student who leaves my classroom to be a better student than they were when they entered.

Hi! My name is Quinn Huyg, and I am pursuing a bachelor's degree in elementary education with an emphasis on literacy at Boise State University. I have always known that I wanted to teach. When I was young, I always wanted to be in the classroom and learn, and as I grew, I still loved the classroom but had a passion for understanding how the minds of young children worked and how they learn. I have never doubted that I was made to be a teacher. I plan to become a third-grade teacher when I graduate in the fall of 2026. The college experience thus far has been exciting. I have been given the space to figure out who I am while pursuing my dreams and starting my life. I have always thought of being a teacher, and as I take steps to do so, I find myself more and more excited as the days go by and I get closer to becoming the teacher I always dreamed I'd be. College, at the same time, is hard, it's expensive, it's new and scary. I have loved every step of the journey, but I cannot help but fear the years ahead of me. I had always dreamed of going out of state for college, and as the time to decide approached, I realized this would not be an option due to my financial situation. I do have the support of my parents, but I pay my tuition. I chose Boise State because of the affordability and the in-state tuition. Throughout my senior year and the following summer, I worked two jobs and picked up odd jobs here and there. I did not want to go into debt to receive my education. I saved two years of tuition before entering college, but the financial commitment of college is still daunting. I often joke about the reality of the price of college compared to the salary of most teachers in our area. I worry constantly about the cost of my final year of college, as I will not be able to work as I will be in a classroom full time unpaid. I hope to save the money I have set aside to pay for those two semesters quickly approaching. The sacrifice of pursuing this degree is brave in itself, and it is also a testament to the passion I have for education.

I had always known I wanted to teach. I never understood why, but I was sure. I knew I loved kids and wanted to work with them somehow, but everything clicked for me in third grade. I could not tell you how the 3rd grade ties in, as the effect came much more from my teacher. I had been excited to go into this classroom for years, as my sister had been in the same one four years prior and loved this teacher. I remember thinking at the time that she was scary and holding a bit of resentment towards her for calling me by my sister's name a few times by mistake. I found myself engaged in how she taught and the incentives she provided. I remember if you spent a certain number of hours reading, you would receive a small stuffed monkey who could sit on your desk during school, so I read. I remember earning charms for that monkey if you did well on timed math quizzes, so I studied. We could make all sorts of things for our monkeys, and at an age where we don't understand why we are learning, incentives are helpful, as now I can do multiplication very quickly! Her teaching style kept me engaged, but her compassion for her students inspired me to teach. She is the kind of teacher who loves education with her whole heart. I remember sitting with this teacher on hard days, talking about my feelings as a nine-year-old, and feeling like she genuinely cared what I had to say. Later in my education, in my senior year of high school, I contacted this teacher again and worked as an aide in her classroom for three hours a day. At this point, I knew I wanted to teach, and I was hoping for a fun, free period to hang out with third graders. While yes, I did get to do that, I also got to do the side tasks that come with the job; making copies, laminating, cutting, grading, stickering, and packing take-home folders were all my daily tasks. Even the dirty work was exciting to me! Over that year, I realized that education was my passion, and not even the dirty work could scare me away. I am interested in the ways that students learn and the ways that their minds work. I think about the importance of being invested in and feeling known by the adults around you. Teachers shape the future, and I cannot wait to be shaping the minds of the future.

I am a first-year Elementary Education major at Boise State University. I have always been fascinated with the process of learning to read. When I was young, I believed you would wake up one day and know how to read! Wouldn't that be nice! As I pursue an emphasis on literacy, it is not this simple. In my senior year of high school, I spent up to 3 hours a day in a 3rd-grade classroom, typically working with students who fell a bit lower in their reading abilities; in this particular classroom, it was two young boys who both spoke Spanish at home and were struggling to integrate English reading and writing skills. I would work with them daily on their ability to understand what letters made what sounds and how to write words, hoping they would understand. As the year went on, these two boys progressed impressively. I will not say that they were the best readers I have ever seen or will never need intervention again, but they grew. I could also grade papers, work in reading focus groups, and read the class short books as a treat at the end of the day. I loved reading their stories because of how quickly their minds moved. They were always so quickly creative and had the best ideas. In my career as an educator, I want to make reading and writing fun for kids. I will do this by ensuring that all assignments have a purpose beyond just meeting a standard. I plan to do this by creating assignments like book reports and writing projects attached to a prompt open for interpretation so the students can be creative. Allowing students to read what they wish opens up a new level of joy connected to reading. Many students believe reading is boring because all they have ever read was outside of their genre of choice. The tool of assigning book reports to students on books they have already enjoyed or will enjoy is a great way to instill a love of reading in a student for their whole life. The idea of reading instruction is exciting to me. I plan to teach in a lower elementary classroom with phonics instruction integrated into the curriculum. I plan to set a strong foundation for reading skills and ensure that students exiting my classroom are set up for success, whether in their everyday lives or at the next grade level.

I cannot remember when mental illness has not affected my life. Growing up, I knew the words anxiety and depression and assigned almost no weight to them, as they were just words I heard my parents say on rough days. It was not until recently that I realized how heavy these words are. This became real when my older sister, Julia, entered high school. It was clear to my parents and I that something had changed. I saw my sister retreat into her room and pull away from our family; this was typical high schooler behavior based on what everyone told us, but we knew it was more. My sister struggled then and continues to struggle with anxiety. I recall long road trips and random anxiety attacks that I found inconvenient and annoying as a 6th grader. When I talked with Julia about her anxiety in the past, she explained that it was her sophomore year of high school when "everything just hit the fan." I remember this year well; she is correct; it was messy. She and I had been partially raised by our grandmother, who was recently diagnosed with lymphoma; she was later also diagnosed with leukemia and passed away quickly after that diagnosis. My parents knew how the two of us would handle this, and Julia took it hard, as her life was already seemingly in pieces. Julia is gay and kept this information from her family for a long time. While Julia was still not out to us, she was involved in a heavily abusive relationship, which only worsened her struggle with anxiety and began to introduce depression in her life. Julia stopped eating as she was being pressured to look a certain way while her then-girlfriend was physically and emotionally abusing her. She was in this relationship for almost a year before letting anyone know the severity of what was going on. Our parents brought Julia to a counselor, and she was diagnosed with anxiety; later down the line in College, Julia was diagnosed with SAD, or seasonal affective disorder, which causes depression seasonally. Julia's battle has made me more aware of my own, as I struggle on a much more severe level with my anxiety around the people around me that began from a recent car accident and the death of a good friend that has resulted in a constant fear surrounding the safety of the people I love. Anxiety is a beast. That is truly all that there is to be said about it. All those who fight are strong and capable; the battle is no easy feat. I tell my sister's story with pride in the woman she has grown up to be and the strength she finds in her battle.

As a student, I was impacted greatly by my teachers. I have formed genuine connections with them, both while I was in their classes, as well as later on in life. So much in fact that 9 years out of third grade, I've returned to my third-grade class, and I volunteer with them daily now. The students I work with now have shown me the true joy of education and working with kids. I cannot express the emotion I feel when I watch a concept click for a struggling student. Over the last year with this class, I have found no greater joy than getting to be "Miss. Quinn" to the 27 most incredible tiny humans I have ever met. I believe that the path of a student can be changed by a teacher. Students that enter your classroom have all different kinds of backgrounds, and they all have a story to tell, whether that is through their words, or (more commonly) through their actions. I would argue that getting to the root of why a student is acting out, having a tough day, or even having a hard time focusing, is time spent in genuine conversation with them. I am sure you are not looking for personal stories in this application, but I have one that fits perfectly. Back in October, I had a student in my class who had recently moved to Idaho from California, I noticed during line pick-up that she didn't have as much energy as usual, she had trouble focusing during her morning work and sat alone during their first recess of the day. I pulled her aside as they started math after recess, I asked her if everything was okay, and she told me that she was having a hard time adjusting at this new school, and she missed her friends back home. She broke down and cried as I hugged her, and did my best to be the support that she needed this day. She composed herself and headed back to her desk. For the rest of the day, She was focused, and back to her giggly and energetic self. I like to believe that taking a moment aside, and investing personally in her well-being, changed the course of her day. I think a teacher can do more for a student than just change the course of their day, but in extreme circumstances, even their lives. Children are so important, they deserve to be treated like they are. If we value a child when they are young, and in a school environment, we have just taught a student the most important lesson we could. That they do have value, that they are important and that they are worthy of love in every circumstance. I am sure you have heard the phrase "Teach 'em young" These years are essential to the mindset a child has, educationally, and personally. I believe that someday, I can be the teacher that will be there for her students. I cannot wait for that day.

I believe that living clean is essential to maintaining a positive lifestyle. As a student, it takes a lot of extra work in order to live clean. Being a student is such a heavy workload to carry, especially as a senior who is applying to colleges, applying for scholarships, working a part-time job and balancing my relationships. Making time to ensure that I eat healthy and stay active are essential, for me, to my mental health. I have noticed that my mental health struggles in synonymy with my physical health. This is partially related to insecurity, and partially related to just the things I distract myself with. When I refrain from exercise and healthy eating I find myself spending my time mindlessly snacking and sitting in bed. I find myself getting more easily insecure as well as overwhelmed. I think that living a healthy lifestyle is important to keeping a balanced lifestyle. Living a healthy life right now is preparing me for my future especially. I plan to be a teacher, and teachers are constantly moving, up and down and constantly active. I also want to be a mom someday, and ideally I would also be constantly active with my future children. I would hope to be able to participate in all of my kids' activities. I also want to be able to take my future kids to go and do fun things! Living a life now that can prepare me for that one is the biggest inspiration for this life. Living healthy to me means keeping a balance between happy and confident. I am by no means the skinniest girl, I am not absolutely perfect by world standards or even on my own on some days. Despite this fact, I am confident in the body that I have and am constantly working to better myself physically. I also think that healthy living needs to be based on your mental health. Managing your mental health can be make or break, or even life or death in some situations. Mental health management is different for everybody, but I think that the most important factor is making sure that in a day, even just for a second, you spend time investing in yourself, becoming aware of your feelings. Again, I struggle with my mental health as well. I find myself down in the dumps consistently, but mental health doesn't mean having to be happy all the time. As a student, my mental health is dependent on my workload. Balancing the two has taught me that living a healthy lifestyle can’t just mean physical fitness, but also maintaining your mental health.