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Hayley McNeill

Professor Jizi

UWRT 1103-022

15 March 2018

Future Authoring Essay

I am a 3rd grade teacher at Porter Ridge Elementary School. I am an alumni of the Porter

Ridge school system and I share my love of learning to my students. I was recently recognized as

the 2025-2026 Teacher of the Year and awarded a $5,000 pay raise per year. Because teachers

have continued to protest pay raises, my yearly salary increased to $60,000 plus my additional

$5,000 for my outstanding work. With my new and improved yearly salary, I am able to

appropriately care for my family. My husband, Eric, is a cop for the Union County Police

Department. We met in our freshman year of college at the University of North Carolina at

Charlotte and married in 2021, 5 years ago. We have two kids together, Brooklyn and Gavin.

Eric is the love of my life and it clearly elucidates my ability to love and be loved. Family and

relationships are the most import elements in my life and is my driving force in everything that I

do.

My parents are a big help in taking care of Brooklyn and Gavin. We live in the same

neighborhood and they watch after them while Eric and I are at work to save money on daycare

bills. They are always willing to be caretakers at any given moment. My best friends Sam and

Megan just finished serving for the Army so my parents come in to help when I want to go out

and spend time with them. They also love to look after our family dog, Mia. Living in the same

neighborhood allows us to spend time together as a family, which I love. Eric’s parents plan to

move down to Indian Trail from Maryland to spend more time with us within the next year. It is
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easier for the two to move down now because of their recent retirement. My heart beams at the

thought of both of our families being together.

I believe that receiving a degree in Elementary Education was the right path for me. I

have struggled finding a meaning for my life in the past and decided to dedicate it to learning. I

use my strengths of open-mindedness and critical thinking in my teaching as well as fairness and

equity because I feel that they are important elements of learning and understanding. I plan to

create a purposeful existence and achieve greatness through teaching, learning, and growing.