I am currently an elementary education major with an early childhood endorsement at Doane College with plans to become a pre-school or lower elementary teacher. I have had the opportunity throughout high school to spend a lot of time working with young children, experiences that confirmed by career choice.

I am a child of a single parent home. My father passed away when I was only nine and my mother had to do everything on her own with some help from my grandparents. I know she struggled some but never let me see it. She is such a strong and hard working person who has come through a lot. My senior year of high school Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. She went through chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery, and fortunately she is now in remission.

Without the support and caring of my mentor I wouldn’t be where I am today. She has pushed me to be my best and do things I would not have had the courage to do. She has always said I pushed her to be creative and think or do things out of the box. What she didn’t realize is how much she did that same thing for me. She inspired me to study education. I always thought of possibly doing just that, but watching her at work every day  pushed me to apply to Doane to become a teacher.

I recently accepted a job at a pre-school as an assistant teacher and having my mentor down as a reference and TeamMates on my resume helped a lot. The school really liked seeing that I had people in the education field behind me to push me and help me to strive to be the best I can be for the kids I am with.

I am so thankful to Mentors for giving me the opportunity to pursue my dreams of becoming a teacher. Without them I would have been more hesitant of going to, what I think is the best school for a teacher to attend, Doane College. I am planning on giving back to Mentors by becoming a mentor in the future. I will work hard to have the same impact of my mentee and students as my mentor and teachers have had on me.​