Cristina Hernandez

J.Snyder

Capstone Final Draft

4/20/2023

Beyond the Kindergarten Classroom

Up until this past year, my future career path was all over the place. The only thing I was

sure about was that I wanted to help others and work with children. At one point, I wanted to be

a dance studio owner and teacher, which changed into wanting to be a social worker working in

the foster system. Now my path has settled into being an Early Childhood Educator. Though the

other past career paths I wanted to fit into the two things I for sure knew I wanted in my career, I

knew I could do more to help our future generations. Being a teacher will have the most impact

on many students in many ways, "This impact involves not only the teaching of particular

academic skills but, as importantly, the fostering of student self-esteem. Reinforcing self-esteem

in the classroom is associated with increased motivation and learning." (Brooks), I don't just

want to have an impact on my students while they are in the classroom but also when they leave

my class and into their adult lives.

My name is Cristina Elsie Hernandez. I was born in Grand Rapids, MI, on September 25,

2005, to Kellie Sinke and Juan Hernandez. I am my mother's first child and my father's fourth

child. My mother was born and raised in and continues to live in Grand Rapids, MI. As for my

father, he was born and raised in Veracruz, Mexico, and then moved to Michigan in 1990. I grew

up with an older brother, two older sisters, a younger brother, and a younger sister, Gabriel,

Adriana, Maria, Alejandro, and Areli Hernandez. I am a senior at Lee High School and have

lived in the school district since preschool. I will be a second-generation graduate from Lee High
School as my mother, aunt, and uncles graduated from Lee. I will be the first in my family to

attend college and earn my degree. I spend most of my time at the dance studio when I'm not in

school. I have danced at Expressions Dance Academy for 15 years, and of those 15 years, I have

been on their competition team for 12 years. Dance has played a significant role in the person I

have become. Not only did I meet a fantastic team, but I met my second family. Every single one

of the girls on my team has become a sister to me. I spend more time at the studio and with my

teammates than with some family members. I found my love for working with kids from dance. I

started assistant coaching the 2 to 4-year-old combos at 12, and I realized how much I enjoyed

working with little kids. I have also worked with the kids at the dance studio. I babysit and tutor

all the younger kids in my family. The more I work with younger kids, the more I realize I want

to work with kids longer term in my future career.

After high school, I plan to earn my Early Childhood Education degree by attending

Davenport University. Once out of college, I want to find a teaching position to start building my

career as early as possible. To help my chances of securing a teaching position out of college, I

will build my resume by looking for opportunities to work in a classroom setting with students

while in college. The more experience I can get while still in college will give me a high chance

of securing an open position in a school district. Ideally, I want to teach kindergarten. Still, I

would be happy with any grade as long as I am making a difference in a student's life and happy

with what I am doing. Other than my career goals, my biggest life goal is to just remain

financially stable throughout my whole life. At a young age, I started working at Burger King

and since I began working there I get 35% of my check for spending money for two weeks, and

the rest goes into my saving and is not touched. I plan to continue working all through college

and remain setting money aside into my savings throughout my whole life and even if it's a
different percentage, I will always put a portion of my paychecks into savings. I will also limit

how many large unnecessary purchases. I will also create a weekly budget for items such as gas,

groceries, dining out, personal use, etc. I have created this plan to stay financially stable because

growing up I have seen some of my family members struggle and I never want to be put into a

certain situation. I want to be able to know that I will be able to support myself and someday my

own family consistently. My overall goal in life is to be successful and happy with what I am

doing with my life. I never want to doubt if I made the right decision or not in my life. I want to

have a successful career as a teacher and enjoy what I do for a living.

Even though there are so many positives to being a teacher, there is one major negative

that is pushing me away. As I am sitting here as a senior in high school, deciding what to do in

the future, the path I want to pick is teaching. But, with this decision, the same question

continues to work through my head, "Will I have to protect my future students from a person

who was carelessly given a firearm?" I shouldn't have to think about this when planning my

future career. I want to be a teacher to help future generations, but "This is not the job we signed

up to do," said Angela Chen… "I signed up to teach kids art. I teach jewelry, teach painting,

teach sculpture and printmaking—not how to hide and combat and run away from a school

shooter." (Will). I don't want to go into teaching to protect my students from a firearm. I should

think about all the kids I get to help and watch them grow over that school year. I should be able

to pick this as my career because it is what I want to do, but instead, I am being pushed away for

my safety. Why should I question my future career because the government doesn't want to do

the work needed to restrict guns?

Over the past 17 years, it has been a chaotic ride, but I would be who I am today without

the chaos. From school clubs to dance practices, these have made me who I am today and helped
me decide on my final career choice. My life experiences showed me how much I loved working

with kids and helping them become who they will be in the future. I want to impact the kids I

teach that will last a lifetime.

 Works Cited

"The Impact of Teachers: A Story of Indelible Memories and Self-Esteem." LD OnLine,

www.ldonline.org/ld-topics/teaching-instruction/impact-teachers-story-indelible-memorie

s-and-self-esteem#:~:text=Teachers%20have%20a%20 very%20 significant,with%20

increased%20 motivation%20and%20learning.

Will, Madeline. "'This Is Not the Job We Signed up to Do': Teachers Speak Out AgainstSchool

Shootings." Education Week, January 9, 2023,

www.edweek.org/leadership/this-is-not-the-job-we-signed-up-to-do-teachers-speak-out-a

gainst-school-shootings/2023/01.