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grew up the youngest in a family of six in Eugene, OR. My two older
sisters now live in other states while my brother has moved back to
Eugene with his wife. My dad's been an estimator for a construction
company for as long as I can remember while my mom has been an
elementary teacher. She was, in fact, my kindergarten teacher. Perhaps
it is to her that I owe my love of working with children and the fact
that I want to be an elementary teacher myself. When I was little I
wanted to either be the first woman president (a career I think most
little girls aspire to at one point), a dolphin trainer (bottlenose
dolphins were my favorite animal) or a kindergarten teacher like my
mom. As I got older I realized that I didn't enjoy politics enough for
a career in that area and that, while I still think it would be cool to
work with dolphins, the idea of becoming a marine biologist didn't
appeal to me. I'm not going into teaching because I feel like it's my
only option, but because as I've grown up I've realized how much I
enjoy working with children and how I don't feel fulfilled when I'm
not working with children. The moment I love the most is when a child
I've been working with for a while on a specific problem finally
understands it. Their face lights up and it makes me feel wonderful
knowing that I helped them work through something they've been
struggling with. With the exception of my two years in school I followed my siblings through the same schools, from Spring Creek Elementary to Madison Middle School and finally North Eugene High School. Most of the teachers I had knew my siblings and therefore already knew quite a bit about me. Luckily my older siblings left good impressions on the teachers they had. I also followed my older sisters and brother when it came to playing sports. With there being four of us my mom found River Road Park and Recreation a great place to take us so that we could all be in the pool at about the same time. My siblings all joined the River Road Swim Club, but I was too young at first so I had private lessons (I was a good little swimming fish). Although we all got the opportunity to try out other sports- I tried ballet and soccer- my mom eventually asked us all to pick one. We all chose swimming and water polo during the off season. Go to my swimming page to learn more about my 18 year swimming career. After finishing high school I attended Oregon State University for four years where I earned my BA in Liberal Studies with an option in Elementary Education. I was also able to focus on the behavioral sciences (sociology and psychology) and obtain a minor in Spanish. I find the languages to be fascinating and love that I am able to speak Spanish with my native Spanish-speaking students at the elementary school where I am currently student teaching. I think it helps create a connection between myself and those students. My future plans are to finish graduate this year with my Master of Arts degree in teaching and my teaching license. I plan on looking for a job in a school and district that I feel would be a good fit for me and find a place nearby to live to my cat, Westley. |