Biography

I have wanted to go into the field of education ever since I was 13 years of age. I
remember that I had a terrible 7th grade math teacher followed by an absolutely amazing 8th grade
math teacher. Having these opposing experiences inspired me to become a teacher. I spent the
majority of my free time in high school tutoring my peers in their mathematics courses. It was
during this time that I was first introduced to the AHA! moment. This is the moment in
tutoring or teaching a student when the light bulb finally turns on inside his or her head. After
seeing enough of these light bulbs turn on, I found that I quite enjoyed helping students get to
that moment as often as possible.
About three-fourths of the way through my high school career, I decided to sign up for
the CAPE (Council Attracting Prospective Educators) Academy summer program offered at the
University of Dayton in 2008. This program lasted one week, and it introduced me to various
facets of education including lesson planning, classroom management, and educational
technology. The main focus of the entire week was each participant making one lesson plan, and,
at the end of the week, the best lesson plans were selected to be presented to the whole group that
attended the program. My lesson was one of the lessons selected to be shared with the entire
group. Having that first moment of teaching a lesson to a group affirmed my decision to go into
education. The following school year, my high school calculus teacher allowed me to teach said
lesson to one of her classes. When I taught this lesson to her class, I felt like a full-fledged
teacher for the first time, and I was not even out of high school yet.
When I started my collegiate years at Marietta College, my decision to go into the
education field was further supported by the Marietta College Education Department. Several of
the professors in this department gave me the necessary tools and knowledge in order to work
toward a career in teaching. I also continued tutoring mathematics by becoming a tutor for the
Marietta College Academic Resource Center. The students I tutored helped maintain my
motivation to become a teacher because I loved helping them have their AHA! moments.
However, my dream of becoming a teacher was nearly crushed by certain outside factors
including some of the requirements in order to student teach at Marietta College, so after I
graduated with my bachelors degree in mathematics, I decided it was time to find a way to get
my teaching license. After a long and arduous search, I found Western Governors University.
Being a part of this university rejuvenated my dream of becoming a high school mathematics
teacher. The course mentors and my colleagues were a great support system that ultimately led
me to my licensure. So, here I am today ready to work as hard as I can to be the best educator I
can be.