Why become a teacher? There are many answers to this questions: I love kids, I love teaching, and I want to help the future generations are all common answers. For me, however, the answer is different. I've always wanted to be a teacher, ever since elementary school. I've always been a natural teacher. When students needed help, they came to me. When teachers needed somebody to sit the misbehaving kids beside, they chose me. Aside from that, I want to make a difference. Specifically in higher education. I want to teach college level math, I know, you don't hear that everyday. College classes, especially math, are hard. They're supposed to be. But, when you add a teacher who shows favoritism on top of that, they become impossible. I've never had an issue with this. I've always been the teacher's favorite. But I see it happening to other students. Teachers will give some students extra opportunities just because they compete on the math team. They will give special rewards to athletes who have to stay out late at games. I want to create an environment were every student, regardless of abilities, can thrive. I want to have my classroom be a safe space were students can ask for help freely, without fear of embarrassment. I want to create a fair and equal classroom for all my students, no matter who they are or how they score on tests. I had a teacher in middle school who did this for me, and I'll never forget it. I went to a very small feeder school for kindergarten through eighth grade. My sixth grade year, they hired a new middle school math teacher. An old guy who had "retired" from one of the big high schools. At first, this terrified me because where I grew up male teachers had a tendency to be mean. I soon learned that this wasn't the case. He saw me for me, and not the things other people saw me for. My mom was a teacher, so it was commonplace for teachers to automatically like me because of that. I played on all the academic teams, so some teachers would assume I was a good student based on that alone. But he didn't. He came in knowing nothing and judged me based on what kind of a person I was. He taught me how to better myself in so many ways other than math. A lot of the lessons I learned from him I still apply daily. That's the kind of teacher I want to be. The kind that sees students for who they are, and not their math abilities. The kind that teaches them lessons that they an apply for years to come.

The original Beauty and the Beast movie had the greatest impact on my life. Growing up, I was always different from my friends and even my family. I was what society calls a nerd. I liked to read. I liked math. I wasn't good at talking to other kids my age, or anybody really. These things also created a divide with fictional characters, specifically, princesses. All of the classic princesses seemed to have something I didn't. Cinderella had an evil stepmother. Ariel was the daughter of the king. Jasmine had a pet tiger. Elsa had magical ice powers. It wasn't until I watched Beauty and the Beast that I learned other people felt the same way as me. In my seven year old mind this was earth shattering. There was finally a princess who I could connect with. Belle liked to read, and was outcasted for it. I was in a very similar situation. I became obsessed and watched the movie on repeat for years. Flash forward to a few years later, I'm in middle school and I watch Beauty and the Beast at a sleepover with my friends. I realized that night that, on the surface it was just a harmless princess movie. But there were so many underlying messages that still connected to my life. The biggest one came when the Beast let Belle teach him how to read. Being good at schoolwork comes with the challenge of everybody wanting your answers. This poses a decision, do you give them away, or make them work for it? I always tried to teach instead of give. Nobody, guys in particular, liked this very much. Seeing Belle teach the Beast how to read, and him appreciating it, showed me that some guys were different and would accept the help. Now flash forward another few years to the present day. Beauty and the Beast caused many of the standards I still have for the people I hang out with. I learned that the people who push you away for what you like, don't matter in the end, and that you always need to keep searching for the people who will accept you. I learned that being different isn't necessarily a bad thing. I learned that sometimes the bad things that happen to you can turn into your biggest blessings. This last one really hit home when I had to leave the K-8 school that I knew and loved to go to a much bigger high school that I hated. I was mad at the world for so long but in the end it ended up helping me. I wouldn't be involved with the programs I am now if I wouldn't have had to transfer. I also wouldn't have met my boyfriend. So, a seemingly harmless Disney movie became one of the most influential movies of my life. After reading this, what's a kids movie that has impacted you in ways you didn't expect?