My Life and Education: An Autobiographical Essay

Tomas Puga III

College of Western Idaho

Education 120: Foundations of Education

Professor Damaris Wight

April 16, 2021

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My Life and Education: An Autobiographical Essay

I would accurately describe my life thus far as being quite dull. That may not sound very

intriguing; however, life isn’t simply about what’s been done but rather what is left to be done.

I’ve always had quite great aspirations, at one point I believed I’d be living in the Big Apple

playing professional football. Things don’t necessarily happen as they are envisioned, but at this

point in my life I have a good grasp of what I’d like to pursue and what is feasible. There has

been a plethora of vital moments in my life which have shaped my future and I’m very happy

with where I am and where I am heading.

School Experiences

In my early elementary years, I moved through a few different school systems. I attended

kindergarten and first grade at Hidden Springs Charter School. I wound up here because this was

where my Mom worked. We lived in Wilder which is about an hour or so away from Hidden

Springs which is in the hills of Boise. The neighborhood surrounding the school was extremely

affluent and when I reminisce about the experience, it seems all so picture perfect. After the first

grade, the school went bankrupt and left numerous teachers unemployed, including my mom. My

next school was Lewis and Clark Elementary in Caldwell. This experience was bad for couple of

reasons, mainly poor teaching, so I wound up changing schools again. The third school I

attended in second grade was Wilder Elementary. I was routinely bullied at this school, but the

experience helped shape my character. Following second grade, my mom got a job at Idaho Arts

Charter School in Nampa. With her new appointment, she brought me along with her. I really

appreciate this school for exposing me to the arts and allowing me to interact with people of

different interests. I stayed at this school all the way until halfway through the eighth grade. I left

because I wanted to play basketball, but I couldn’t due to scheduling conflicts. The remainder of
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my eighth grade year was spent at Syringa Middle School, back in Caldwell. I had quite a few

schools to choose from for high school, but I opted to go to Skyview High School in Southern

Nampa because it was in very close proximity to my father’s new house. Skyview was the only

high school I attended, and it has a very soft spot in my heart.

I’ve played sports all of my life, basketball, baseball, football, tennis, four-square, I’ve

tried it all. When I started high school, my three main sports were basketball, baseball, and

football. I loved them all, but gradually football became my focus. Halfway through my junior

football season I was named a starter on varsity. At the end of my junior year, we made it to the

playoffs. Our roster was extremely talented; we had the Idaho football player of the year and a

current Boise State University running back on our team. Our varsity roster consisted of 19

Seniors who would be leaving us. The lack of varsity experience left on the team, that next year,

proved to be a great challenge. My senior season. I was one of three starters remaining on the

team and the only lineman. My senior season also consisted of many coaching changes. Due to

all the chaos surrounding the football program, I found myself in a leadership role. Throughout

the season I helped instruct lineman drills and essentially became the lineman coach’s assistant.

At times, I felt I was coaching as much as I was playing. The senior football season was not a

success and our team had taken a massive fall from where we were the year prior. I received

some personal accolades, but I wish I had done more for the team. The experiences I had my

senior year of high school are a massive reason why I want to be an educator and, in addition,

become involved in coaching football.

Life has a lot of twist and turns of which my school experiences show. I started at a very

wealthy neighborhood and within the span of two years I was attending a school in one of the

most impoverished districts in the state. I went from being bullied to befriending creatives to
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being an all-conference offensive lineman. The vast array of experiences I’ve had are going to be

very influential in how I teach. I believe those experiences offer me the opportunity to connect

with a variety of different students. These connections will allow me to be a bigger influence in

their education.

Going to college was my next step. I envisioned myself moving to Portland to attend

Portland State University. I was deferred because I didn’t complete the required amount of high

school math credits. I had other schools on my list and NNU even offered me a very generous

scholarship, but it was Boise State that wound up calling my name most. I enrolled for the Fall

2020 semester. The Covid-19 pandemic changed a lot of things and although I had taken

numerous steps to live on campus, it didn’t feel like the right time. I changed course and I

applied to The College of Western Idaho. As I started to submit my documents to the college,

everything began to feel just right. Although I hadn’t initially planned on attending at CWI, it has

been an excellent first experience of college.

Work Experiences

I’ve been fortunate enough to have never been required to work up to this point. I

currently have a work study job with the CWI library. My primary work experience, most similar

to a job, has been taking care of my siblings. The demands that have come with taking care of

my brothers and sisters have varied. From watching my infant brother while my Mom went to

the grocery store to watching my teenage brother for the weekend, I’ve done it all. I can without

a doubt state I prefer to deal with older children. I don’t prefer older children simply for the fact

that they are less demanding, but primarily for the ability to communicate with them. Being able

to express and communicate ideas that I’m passionate about is a large part of why I’m working

to be an educator.
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Ethics in Teaching

I think it is extremely important that teachers communicate with their students and have

an open discourse regarding coursework/school related matters. The dilemma is, when does

approachableness become inappropriate? The simple answer to this dilemma is to not allow

students access to your personal social media and personal phone number. Communication needs

to be held either at school or via school monitored emails. Communicative transparency is

extremely important for the safety of both the instructors and students, many things can be

misconstrued if believed to be hidden. Although I’ve demonstrated the very simple solution,

there are ethical ways to approach the given situation and reach a solution.

One solution by way of virtue ethics is to develop a complete and whole character. Virtue

ethics doesn’t necessarily look at each individual action and wouldn’t necessarily apply directly

to maintaining proper relationships with students. What virtue ethics would do to solve the

dilemma is establish a strong sense of morals within that person. Morals that a virtuous person

might value are honesty, loyalty, and fairness. With a strong head and a virtuous character, it is

possible for teachers to completely avoid a misconstrued line of communication as a whole

because the repercussions would be identified and avoided immediately.

The more applicable ethical theory that can be applied to the situation is Kantian ethics.

Emmanuel Kant makes many ethical points, but the two most important in this situation are his

ideas of “doing one’s duty” and Kant’s first categorial imperative. The first point is that it is

moral to do one’s duty and avoid any hindrance or obstacle in the way of achieving one’s duty.

Dabbling in inappropriate relationships as a teacher would surely get in the way of educating and

will result in very serious consequences. The second point from Kant is his categorial imperative.

A big part of his imperative is the idea that everyone should abide by morals which can/should
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be followed universally. Just about every rational person on Earth can agree that it is immoral to

have an intimate or seemingly intimate relationship with a minor as an adult. Anyone following

this verse of Kantian ethics would simply not allow the minor into their social spaces and would

condemn any advancement.

Reasons to Teach

I would say that I have more reasons to be a k-12 teacher than not. The primary reason is

quite simple, I dream of teaching. Although growing up on a teacher’s salary hasn’t offered me

all the experiences that some kids have, being rich isn’t the goal. I just don’t see myself being

happy doing much else. So, I continue to work towards my dream.

I’m known for a few characteristics which are good qualities for a teacher to possess. The

primary is my passion for the subject I want to teach. I want to be Mr. Puga, the high school

history teacher. Who knows, I might earn a social studies degree so that I can teach other

subjects too. Then, there is my caring nature. I care for everyone! I want to have all my students

succeed. If I have to go the extra mile, by making accommodations or working extra hours, then

so be it. Additionally, I have many skills which might allow me to work in a multitude of fields.

One is my managerial skills; I am very task oriented and can manage groups very well. I believe

that my ability to command a group comes from my experience playing and coaching sports.

This skill should enable me to work in all kinds of management such as school administration, a

corporate office, or even coaching. I would also say that I have the gift of gab, public speaking

included. This skill can be applied to various occupations such as a sales representative,

broadcaster, politician, and of course teaching. If I don’t teach, I might wind up in politics. I’m

still considering earning a dual major in social studies and political science.
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Outlook for the Future

I’m currently working towards my associates degree at CWI. I intend on earning at least a

bachelor’s degree at the next institution. There is a chance that I’ll work towards a master’s

degree, but it depends on what I end up majoring in. With the help of my father, I’ve been

working on scholarships so that school is less of a financial burden. My family is fortunate

enough to be able to support me through school, but I don’t feel inclined to become too

financially dependent on them. My father has also helped me setup my classes to make sure I’m

on the right path towards my desired career. Both my parents have been extremely supportive of

me attending school and are pleased with my career choice, seeing as they’ve both been working

in education all their lives.

I love to dream about my future but there are things that must be accomplished before I

can make my dreams a reality. My first goal is to finish this semester with a 4.0 grade point

average. I achieved this in my first semester at CWI, so it is very possible as long as I put in the

work. My next goal is to complete summer classes at CWI. I’m still deciding how much of a load

I want to carry during the summer semester, I’ll take either two or three classes. The reason I’m

taking classes in the summer is because I intend on transferring to my next school in Spring

2022. I’m really excited to join the workforce, so I’m doing everything I can to muscle through

school.

Although I am certainly trying to rush through school, I still want to take some breaks to

smell the roses. My biggest fear would be to burnout from stress and give up on my mission. I

have few doubts that I will succeed, and I believe that this is the best mindset to have. Life is

truly about pushing forward and embracing what’s next. I absolutely can’t wait to jump into the

next chapter of my life.