Through my hard work and professionalism in the classroom I was selected by a teacher for the foundations of education class. This class is a dual credit class associated with the University of Denver. The program this class is under is the pathways2teaching program. It allows me to go to a primary school and teach the next generation. The class I’ve chosen to teach is the AFS or SPED class. For two days consecutively the students’ primary teacher were not there giving me the ability to step up in the classroom. The students were assigned math packets that I had to make sure all the problems were correct on them and they understand how that answer was the correct one. They all were in different spots so I had to hop from student to student to give assistance. This format was making me lose class time because the students needed my approval to move forward. On the next day entering the class I decided to move all the students close together so I don't have to bounce around from student to student. It proved to be very effective as it allowed me to help more than one person at once and give them the approval to move forward. This experience inspired me to work towards bachelor's in engineering. Solving everyone's problem at once in efficient ways is invigorating. Engineering allows me to do it on a larger scale.

Honestly, I think I benefitted from being in a single-parent household in more ways than I know. Living with just my mother as my main provider has had its hardships where we couldn't afford stuff at times but I would not be the person I am today if my father tried to stay relevant in my life. My father sticks behind his old-time beliefs of what the roles of men and women in society should be. Not just roles but clothing attire too. “His wife gave him jeans that are too tight by his standards and he became furious. He looked over to his wife and said “”Do I look like a girl to you?”“, Said Trevonte who is the brother that’s on my dad's side. His outdated look on life had the potential of stifling my personal growth. With father involved in my life he could've planted a seed that prevented the crucial turning point in my young life. I encountered a girl at recess In the eighth grade after lunch named Marley. She wanted to race me after I beat three other boys. I thought I was fast and prided myself on it. I took her as a joke. “You really think you got this,” I said while giggling. “Let the race speak not words,” she said calmly. We got into position then our classmate yelled out “get ready, set, go”. I slowed myself down to pity her but she sped past me like lightning. I ran full speed and couldn’t keep up. She won. In my head, I thought “I really lost to a girl”. But instead of anger, I responded with a simple “good race”. She gave me a smile filled with the satisfaction of defeating me. This led me to acknowledge girls as equal individuals. At this moment I relinquished the ideals I held to so strongly. The toxic ideals I picked up from the boys around me, not my father. With him there would I have dropped them then. I would have my father pushing it upon me and people surrounding me with the same thoughts as his. More than likely my mind would not have swayed. I would not be the person I am now the one that is compassionate, empathetic, progressive, and tenacious.

"Be A Man" The man shouts at his kid as he struggles to hold the grocery bags when walking back to their car. The bags were so heavy for his small little hands that his fingers were struggling to keep grasp of it. The bag tears and all of the groceries fall on the hard concrete. The father calls him “weak”. The kid's cheerful look on his face drops and he begins to cry. The father has no idea the damage he is doing to his child. “Stop crying like a little girl”. After hitting my head on the wall extremely hard as I ran around the house playing tag with my cousin with a smile on my face that turned upside down upon hearing this. It is natural for any kid to cry after sustaining that amount of pain. At 5 years old without a second thought, I began to believe that men are not supposed to be as emotional as women. “Little girl,” told me emotion was weakness and equates to femininity. “Take out the trash, that's a boy's job." I hated it. As soon as I got home from school I had to take out the trash. As a boy, I took pride in doing it with a smile on my face, because boys are the ones who are supposed to do the lifting and carrying. I shackled myself with the ideals of the patriarchy. It was my duty to protect and help girls by being that unemotional and strong boy. I didn’t like girls doing boy jobs, because I thought they were going to harm themselves or won’t do it as efficiently. In my eighth grade year, I realized that girls don’t need boys to take care of them. When I encountered a girl at recess after lunch named Marley. She wanted to race me after I beat three other boys. I thought I was fast and prided myself on it. I took her as a joke. “You really think you got this,” I said while giggling. “Let the race speak not words,” she said calmly. We got into position then our classmate yelled out “get ready, set, go”. I slowed myself down to pity her but she sped past me like lightning. I ran full speed and couldn’t keep up. She won. In my head, I thought “I really lost to a girl”. But instead of anger, I responded with a simple “good race”. She gave me a smile filled with the satisfaction of defeating me. This led me to acknowledge girls as equal individuals. At this moment I relinquished the ideals I held to so strongly. Realizing how harmful they are to women due to how they further their oppression in a male-dominated society like the U.S. There are a plethora of problems in the U.S which I cannot solve alone. But I can make people struggling with a myriad of problems smile and ease their stress, trauma, or mental illness by becoming a therapist. Therapists talk to people like this who are struggling in this country for things that take years to solve. Like homophobia, racism, sexism, etc. Although I do not just want to help people struggling with societal issues but also people who have their problems. I just want to get people to the point where they smile again. I am going to create a safe place and be an outlet for them. My patient, empathetic , and inclusive nature would establish this open atmosphere. I would like to help people struggling with their childhood trauma that suppressed their identity.

"Be A Man" The man shouts at his kid as he struggles to hold the grocery bags when walking back to their car. The bags were so heavy for his small little hands that his fingers were struggling to keep grasp of it. The bag tears and all of the groceries fall on the hard concrete. The father calls him “weak”. The kid's cheerful look on his face drops and he begins to cry. The father has no idea the damage he is doing to his child. “Stop crying like a little girl”. After hitting my head on the wall extremely hard as I ran around the house playing tag with my cousin with a smile on my face that turned upside down upon hearing this. It is natural for any kid to cry after sustaining that amount of pain. At 5 years old without a second thought, I began to believe that men are not supposed to be as emotional as women. “Little girl,” told me emotion was weakness and equates to femininity. “Take out the trash, that's a boy's job." I hated it. As soon as I got home from school I had to take out the trash. As a boy, I took pride in doing it with a smile on my face, because boys are the ones who are supposed to do the lifting and carrying. It was my duty to protect and help girls by being that unemotional and strong boy. I didn’t like girls doing boy jobs, because I thought they were going to harm themselves or won’t do it as efficiently. I believed that they paled in comparison to boys. In my eighth grade year, I realized that girls don’t need boys to take care of them. When I encountered a girl at recess after lunch named Marley. She wanted to race me after I beat three other boys. I thought I was fast and prided myself on it. I took her as a joke. “You really think you got this,” I said while giggling. “Let the race speak not words,” she said calmly. We got into position then our classmate yelled out “get ready, set, go”. I slowed myself down to pity her but she sped past me like lightning. I ran full speed and couldn’t keep up. She won. In my head, I thought “I really lost to a girl”. But instead of anger, I responded with a simple “good race”. She gave me a smile filled with the satisfaction of defeating me. This led me to acknowledge girls as equal individuals. At this moment I relinquished the ideals I held to so strongly. Realizing how harmful they are to women due to how they further their oppression in a male-dominated society like the U.S. There are a plethora of problems in the U.S which I cannot solve alone. But I can make people struggling with a myriad of problems smile and ease their stress, trauma, or mental illness by becoming a therapist. Therapists talk to people like this who are struggling in this country for things that take years to solve. Like homophobia, racism, sexism, etc. Although I do not just want to help people struggling with societal issues but also people who have their problems. I just want to get people to the point where they smile again. I am going to create a safe place and be an outlet for them. My reassuring, patient, calming, and inclusive nature would establish this open atmosphere. I would like to help people struggling with their childhood trauma that suppress their identity.