When I tell people that I want to be a high school teacher, most respond with “Why would you ever want to do that?” or give me a look composed of their deepest sympathy with a touch of remorse over my stupidity. However, I look them in the eye and I tell them teaching has always been what I wanted to do with my life.

Since I was in fourth grade, I have wanted to teach. The grade and subject have shifted over the years, but the wish to educate young minds has persevered. My fourth-grade teacher changed my outlook on the world. If I were to pinpoint a person who influenced my decision to teach, it would be her. She somehow showed my fourth-grade mind the beauty of education and the ability to inspire young minds. After that year, I knew teaching was what I wanted to do.

As I grew older and entered the higher grades, I had many teachers along the way that touched me more deeply than a regular teacher would. I had a seventh-grade geography teacher, high school English teacher, a math teacher, a physics teacher; all of these educators reminded me every year of why I wanted to teach. I have always been a student who needed small class sizes and a relationship with my teacher. I could never be in a lecture at UMass of 400 students. I learn best when the teacher knows my name and who I am. I built relationships with these teachers during my secondary career that have lasted to this day. What I have learned from that was that I could be that person for so many students.

I have always been someone who struggles with change. I remember crying my eyes out when I had to go from elementary school to the big, bad middle school, and again digging my heels to go to the high school. But freshman year I had a math teacher who also doubled as my soccer coach, and I learned more than just geometry from her. I learned how to be an adult, how to deal with people I didn’t like, and how to create relationships with others. She continued to guide me through my high school career without even realizing the impact she had on me. There are other students out there who don’t like to change or are afraid to grow up, and one of my goals as an educator is to be there for them when they need it because I had so many wonderful teachers who were there for me.

I chose English as my specialty because I have always had a passion for reading. But it wasn’t until I was a sophomore in high school that my English teacher allowed me to blossom into a student who understood and loved each part of the language and the literature. Before that year, I knew I was decent at English. I didn’t consider myself a stellar student, but I wasn’t terrible. After that year, I came out with a newfound confidence and joy for the subject that I have had ever since. With each passing year, my passion for this subject grows, and it all started with a seed my high school English teacher planted in me.

I want to teach to expose students to their own hidden talents, to challenge them to see themselves in a brighter light. I want to be there when they discover they love history, or chemistry, or English, and guide them into believing in themselves.