Emerald Scholarship

I’ve always aspired to be a teacher. Growing up I wasn’t the smartest kid, and honestly my teachers weren’t very much help with that. Truly, as a struggling student I felt that when I had a bad teacher, there was no chance for me. So ever since I was young, I wanted to grow up to be that change, I didn’t want any struggling student to feel like I did.

Upon first entering college, I struggled deciding at such a young age what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Through babysitting and volunteering with pre-school aged children at my church and through a school program called STARS, it became evident to me I had a love for helping children. It fascinated me to see how they viewed the world around them and how quickly they learned new truths everyday. Nevertheless, I knew I would not get the full enjoyment interacting with children as a schoolteacher because the teacher to student ratio is so large. Classroom demands would make it much more difficult to devot individualized attention to each student, and I did not like that concept. So

For me, the decision to become a teacher is more of a way of life than a career. I have always loved school, practicing at being school marm from a young age, and voraciously devouring every shred of education offered me in my career as a student. If it were possible, I would be a student for the rest of my life. And then I still would not have learned enough. As a teacher, I hope to instill this appetite for knowledge in secondary students. They are, after all, the future leaders of the world, and what better place to expand the minds of the generations to come than here in Appalachia where education programs, especially the sciences, which I plan to teach, are poorly funded and children’s dreams

I would like to express my thanks to the Buster Bynum Education Scholarship for allowing me the opportunity for financial assistance through your scholarship program. Being the second child in my family to attend college, I know that college can be expensive. At the age of seventeen, I am the youngest of six children. I learned from my family that they will give me all the love in the world, but when it comes to money I have to earn it. For the past three years I’ve earned my gas and spending money working a part-time job laying sod for Mid-South Enterprises LLC. I am confident that my parents will help as much as they possibly can financially, but with the assistance from scholarships my out of pocket tuition cost can be less.

For a long time I didn’t know what I would like to pursue as a career but when I reflected on my life I realized some of my favorite times in life were when I was teaching someone something and when I was learning. In my future career as a high school teacher I will able to do both of those things. Seeing peoples’ eyes light up with interest because they

I knew I wanted to become a teacher in 6th grade when I was able to be apart of the STARS program at my middle school. This was a program that allowed students like me the opportunity to be able to work with the special needs children. This is where I first knew I had a passion to be able to help others and to teach. As I got older I was able to help lesson plan and help teach the students there during my lunch time and study hall. This was a really empowering time for me because I discovered things I was good at, and I was able to get to know more students and be able to connect with

I first became interested in teaching in my sophomore year in high school. My inspiration came from three amazing teachers who showed passion for their subject matter as well as a love for teaching. My desire to become a teacher was amplified by the many leadership and teaching roles that I took on while I was in Boy Scouts. While teaching in Boy Scouts I learned that teaching was what mattered most to me. Under my leadership, I helped advance many scouts to the rank of Eagle Scout as well as winning multiple awards at every summer camp that we attended. This was my jumping point into enrolling in Old Dominion University’s education program.

My passion for teaching started at a very young age. My mother is a first grade teacher and gave me my first exposure to teaching. Any time anyone asked me what I was going to be when I grew up I always said I would be a teacher. Once I started attending El Camino College, I was a tutor at my elementary school, which is where my mother teaches. My first hands on experience

My first experience with volunteering at a soup kitchen when I was twelve impacted me enormously, and I sought out different programs that I could be involved in, knowing that the little time I put in could tremendously affect another person’s life for the better. As equal as my passion for helping the homeless, I also care deeply for those who suffer from mental disabilities. I can continue carrying my passion for others through a few of the John Hopkins clubs, such as Hopkins Helping the Homeless and the Active Minds @ JHU.

Starting my freshman year I joined Project Unify and began volunteering at the Special Olympics, working with intellectually disabled students to promote love and friendship through sports while also connecting them to the community. As a part of Project Unify, I was able to assist in encouraging inclusion and acceptance of students with intellectual disabilities in my school and the local area. I became an advocate for students with intellectual disabilities, reaching out to my peers to illustrate that they are not different than us and that the only divide that exists between us and them is one we create. We had campaigns throughout the school such as “Spread the Word to End the Word” to stop the hurtful use of the r-word. I took part in

Starting to teach lessons is one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. It was fun to teach something that I love to kids. And though I was worried about instructing, I really didn’t need

Teaching is the greatest profession in the world! I discovered I wanted to be a teacher while working as a Speech Assistant in the public schools. It is amazing to watch students learn. I adore the feeling of energy that comes from kids. Teaching helps build a positive future for everyone, and I love being a part of it.

Ever since preschool I always knew that I wanted to become a teacher. Now that the time has come, I am pursuing my dream of becoming one here at Kent State University Geauga.

I am not one of those people that knew absolutely for sure from age five that they wanted to be a teacher. I have thought about many different professions during my educational career and have changed my mind at times in deciding the best route to take. However, teaching has always been something I knew I would enjoy doing. I would often tell my teachers in school that I would like to be an educator, but this statement usually left me with looks of shock and responses that I could achieve so much more in my life. I would find myself very confused; wondering why these people picked a profession they believed to be so unimportant and meaningless. Regardless of their objections, I have continued to want

My high school had a special program just for students with disabilities. A big passion of mine in high school was being the leader of the Service Over Self club which worked primarily with the kids in our school with disabilities. It encouraged all the students to befriend someone with a disability and incorporate them into our daily activities. The teachers in my school were wonderful about making sure that the special needs students felt warm and welcome in any area of the school they went to. Dedicating so much time to working with the special needs students really opened my eyes to all the blessings I have in my life. Even though I had a very rough time with my back problems, it is extremely minute to the struggles these children go through