Throughout my life, I have always wanted to make an impact on the world, but it wasn’t until my junior year of high school, when I was teaching preschool, that I fell in love with the idea of teaching. If you know me, you know that I want to see the world, learn new languages and cultures, and meet people. I also want to be able to open schools around the world to give children the education that they deserve.
I started off as a preschool Montessori teacher and then was in the teacher preparation program at Salisbury University, where I taught 1st, 3rd, and 4th grade. While I do not have a teaching license, I have found that there are still endless opportunities to become a teacher. I finished my degree with a Bachelor of Science with a focus in elementary education and film.
I struggled as a kid academically because of ADHD, but my teachers are the reason why I am who I am to this day, and they are the reason why I am so passionate about traveling and teaching. Your first thought when you hear, “Oh, she wants to travel,” may be, “She just wants to go to the beach and drink margaritas all day,” but this couldn’t be further from the truth. I want to be a part of the community and learn from the people who live there, while still being culturally responsive.
In the teacher preparation program, my university made it clear how important it is to be a culturally responsive teacher and how important it is to build strong relationships with your students—because you simply cannot teach a child without knowing how they learn best.
One of my biggest life goals is to make an impact on the world. You may hear this a lot, but I truly want to dedicate my life to teaching and making impacts in small communities in as many places as I can. If one day I get a phone call from a student telling me that they are going to run for president, I will feel like I am on top of the world. I don’t want to teach just to be another teacher in the classroom, but to tell students that they can achieve anything they believe in.
While I travel to unknown places, I know the obstacles that lie ahead of me. But one of my favorite quotes is, “The only thing you have to fear is fear itself.” Yes, I can get hesitant about doing things, but being nervous is what makes you human. If you do not face your fears head-on—and if your dreams do not scare you—I truly believe they are not big enough.
Traveling the world is scary, but it is something that I have been wanting to do for over a decade. Everything I have been doing has been leading me to this moment where I am right now—every choice I have made, every obstacle I have faced. I have pushed through because of the dream I have: that I am going to get to travel, teach, and see the world.
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