The essence of knowledge is learning and what place better to learn than at school. In the educational field I have learned that not all who teach are educators. Educating the young minds who are the future of this world is a selfless task to encourage and develop the minds to think outside of the box. Teaching in high school has changed much of my average lesson plans and confined them in a plane lesson plan due to TEA. Standardized testing is the essence of demoralizing educational creativity. I want to work on limiting the amount TEA has on the lesson plan structure in the classroom to all the students and teachers more creativity. In this day and age these kids know how to research and recite what is needed, but the actual application of life knowledge that is needed has been absent in the classrooms. Many get lost in the lesson plans and forget how to associate the lesson to life experiences as many students are missing the hands on application. I find it harder and harder to separate the kids from all electronic devices as they go through education and forget how to look something up in an index. I spend most of my time teaching high school students how to attend college and be successful without the need of parental supervision. Some how the mix between TEA and life lessons need to come together and help the student achieve a much larger goal that a generated test that proves ones retention.

Walking outside and the crisp air hits your face as you take a long deep inhale and exhale then suddenly you are at peace. Looking over the waterfront view, listening to the critters and birds sing their good morning songs and you just embrace the ambiance that surrounds you. It's the being engulfed in nature that we lose ourselves to only find our truest version of who we are supposed to be or whom we are becoming. In silence, we find our deepest darkest secrets and find solutions to our problems. In the chaos of this world, it is nature that divides continents, trees that represent a life once lived, it's the water that fuels that land to keep breathing. It is in nature where beauty is discovered and captivated by humans one parcel at a time. I cannot imagine life without nature as it has been the one thing I always go back to for serenity, peace, and discovery in all countries I have lived in. Nature does not need mankind, mankind needs nature. Yet it is nature that gives mankind the most as we eat from the land, drink from the rivers, and live to produce product on its property. Nature is a gift to mankind and I will forever bask in its embrace, music, and ambiance as I grow through this life.

To whom do you owe as time is of the essence. The answer lies in the hearts of oneself, not in the hearts of others. As eloquent as community service sounds it is not for the faint of heart. I have found myself integrated into multiple communities across the World from France, Cambodia, to Australia and America. Working selflessly to promote sports and physical fitness amongst the youth for years now. Through traveling from country to country teaching the youth English and baseball/softball I have found myself in the work I have done and continue doing. I recently found myself standing on a brand new turf baseball field made for the community of Évry-Courcouronnes in France. As one of the first athletes to step on the brand new field, I found myself reminiscing of when I was a young girl who dreamed to be in the place at this exact time. I was honored to teach French boys and the National Cambodian 13u Baseball team for a week-long training in English and in French. As I went through the week I spent time learning the culture from the Cambodian boys and what life was like there in Cambodia. I learned how fortunate we Americans are to have running water and access to sports equipment. In return for learning their culture, they asked a great number of questions about Americans and how it was being an American. The love of sports Softball and Baseball gave me the opportunity to live a foreign life in cultures I never would have imagined I would ever touch foot in, much less live in. My months of community service in France changed my life. As cliché as it may sound, I learned more about America and the idealistic view I had while living in it. It took me moving to France to understand the number of resources we have and the industries we have to maintain the happiness of the consumers. I learned my love for helping the youth not only in France and Cambodia but in other countries, I found my love in life. Diving into my love for teaching kids about fitness and getting outside their comfort zone, I myself was able to use my gift of softball to teach English and American culture and learn about other cultures. I was able to create a program for other Americans to travel to France and become a part of Évry-Courcouronnes and do the same as I did when I was there. I am elated to share that three more Americans have taken my spot overseas and continuing the program today. I will always be forever grateful for the love I was given by the French Federation, the Cambodia Federation, and Australian Federation for allowing me to share my knowledge and encourage the youth to explore their love through sports because they can use their love and use it to travel the world as I did.

Walking through the bricked walls covered in academia acknowledgment and awards. I found myself sitting impatiently waiting for the secretary to beckon me back to meet my academic advisor. My heart was racing as I knew who this professor was and was terrified that he would judge me based on my recent scores on his exam. It was then that my thoughts were flying through my head about every possible outcome I heard them call my name. I paused for a minute, took a deep breath and walked to face my professor who happened to be my academic counselor. I walked down the hall to his office. To my surprise he greeted me with an exciting "good morning" as I replied matching his pitch and tone "good morning". My advice began. He was kind and understood I was a student athlete who was struggling to manage my time between school, and softball at a division one level. He began questioning me in my learning styles and what worked best for me in the classroom. It was then when I told him of my learning disabilities of dyslexia and having been tested to find out I am a 98% visual learner. I began explaining my fear of not being successful in the classroom due to this learning style. He stopped me in my train of thought and asked me if I had my testing results. In the end he encouraged me to seek our campus's ADA department to get the help I needed. If my advisor did not support me to accept my disabilities and turn them into strengths I never would have graduated college and set records on the softball field, I simply would have failed out. One year went by and this professor became my advisor in more than just academia but in life. I found myself in a predicament with our college coaches being mentally abusive to myself and a few other teammates. Through the summer together we met in his office to discuss what to do for the following year. I knew something had to change so the future girls committing to my university would not have to experience the mental agony I was going through. I came up with the idea to go to my athletic director with a typed out letter explaining with evidence what has occurred over the past two years of me being there. I made the appointment to meet with the athletic director. I knew I was risking my scholarship and career as being a division one athlete. I remembered the encouragement of my professor and laid everything on the line in that meeting with my athletic director. As the meeting came to closure a full NCAA investigation was brought down on those coaches, who soon resigned from coaching another season. Embarking on my journey to leave every place better than I found it. I can accredit my successes to my professor and academic advisor, he helped mold me to the person I am today. I am still in contact with this professor and through years of meetings and encouragement to seek better. I found myself registering to begin my master's program in psychology to aid other student athletes to have a voice and maintain mental health through their athletic and academic successes. One person at a time, one life at a time. To this professor and the athletic director I owe it to them to continue encouraging women and other students to fight for their rights. To this I will vow my time to continue their work through me.

The daunting idea of using the STEM system in the educational system was mind boggling at first. I recently traveled to France to help teach English at College Rosa Parks in Marseille, France. I worked with several educators at that school to teach the students about softball and baseball in English. Throughout my time at the school I took the STEM system with me in my brain luggage to incorporate the students' math, English, and physics teacher together while teaching them a sport. As we set the field up, we used specific angles and dimensions to set the field up and position of players. As I acted as the English teacher the students acted as my personal French teacher which became vitally important in my own personal life. The physics teacher explained the force needed to hit the ball at specific velocities and different trajectories. This project started off as incorporating English and softball together. At the end it became the exact international STEM system example to which I at the time did not comprehend at the time. It was not until I became a teacher to which I realized teachers in Marseille, France and myself from Texas implemented a sports related English lesson to a lesson that included math, and physics. This award is merely a stepping stone to my future as I pursue further education. I did not understand the importance of using the STEM system until I traveled overseas to embark on an international experience to schools and softball teams. I found my inspiration to travel to different schools and use my knowledge and skills to teach specific subjects in school no matter the depth or age of the student being taught. I am working with some softball teams in France to continue traveling and teaching schools how to incorporate multiple core subjects through a fun and healthy environment to maintain interest and physical fitness with the different students. Not only would I use my summer months to travel and continue visiting schools overseas but continue the same in the states. Teaching at a small high school I am able to incorporate the STEM system through multiple sports and life events. I currently teach dual credit, which enables me to brainstorm with my students about specific issues in each of their classes and add multiple subjects into conversation and problem solving. I have students in psychology, chemistry, calculus, and history. We all, including myself with my masters program, have similar topics and we all use our subjects of study to tackle a full circle of understanding and bring all of us students applying to the STEM system. Surprisingly, it has helped me understand many discussion topics I have had in my own classes this semester. I understand how accurate the saying the "student becomes the teacher" is.

“Just Press Send" a motto I have lived by for five years and counting. So much of the current world is based on a simple click of a button or mouse, and through one click a life can change. As for me “Just Press Send” was a terrifying step to a world of unknown possibilities and thrilling to have a possibility of a lifetime through softball. I took a chance, made a softball skills video, added statistics about my athletic ability and sent it to softball teams around the world. In one click of a button my athletic profile was off to teams in Australia, Spain, Germany, France, and the Netherlands. That one simple act of “Just Press Send” gave me a lifetime of thrill living abroad, playing and living in multiple countries playing the game I love so much. I was able to go into French schools in Paris, France and teach the school kids English through softball and baseball. When I moved back statewide, I wanted to teach and coach. I began searching for schools that needed a coach for volleyball, or softball. When I found the right fit for me I applied for a junior high physical fitness teacher, with volleyball, basketball, and softball attached and knew it was for me. Through the love of sports I was able to share my experiences and knowledge to my students all while teaching them. I had no idea being a coach meant being a counselor, a constant supporter, and a mother figure to these girls. My school is a low economic school whose students are often asked to be the grown up of the family and take care of siblings. I had this one student who was a sweet girl who had a hard life growing up, parents divorced, lived with her grandmother and only ate a hot meal when at school. Over the summer months I received a phone call from this students aunts telling me this said student committed suicide. I was shook, I did not know what to say or do as we only had three more weeks until school began. I watched our students grieve her death and helped her friends keep moving forward and live for her. Everything these kids needed and had during the school year, and we cut them off from everything constant in their lives. We expect them to survive these weeks off and come back as if they did not just survive a milestone for getting through on the bare minimum. I realized these kids need some sort of outreach in a local setting for these kids to contact a team of teachers and coaches who can aid with summer communications. If they only had a platform to get involved with summer check-ins. Technology could bridge the gap from our "vacations" and their "survival" months with a simple School Board Certified video counseling where we touch base with our students on a monitored platform and talk, help them with what they need and do a mental health check with them. I want to create this platform even if it saves one life. It's worth the creation to make sure other teachers, friends, students and families are spared with a simple drop in check in night with your campus. I want to fight for these kids to have a safe zone to reach for help and receive positive vibes to make it one more week, and continue it weekly to make it to the next school year as the kids can “Just Press Send”.