I truly believe my path was carved out from the moment I was born. Whether or not my journey in education ends with me being a teacher or brings me further, I can confidently say that I’m on the right track. However, my path wasn’t an easy one to find. In fact, the signs that directed me to where I am were nuanced and difficult to see. As a freshman in college, I have many friends who feel as though choosing a major was incredibly difficult, and even when they declared their major, they were still unsure of whether or not it was best for them. I also struggled when searching for and applying to schools, but once I began trusting my gut,everything fell into place, and I couldn’t be more eager to see where my passion brings me.
My parents divorced when I was very young before I could remember it. For that reason, I really got to know my parents as individuals, rather than just as parental figures. My dad began his college education a few years after graduating. From what I gathered, he wanted to pursue an artistic career path. Throughout his adolescence, he was into music and played a big role in various bands. That said, when he decided he needed to find a more conventional career, he kind of just picked something and went back to school. His passion for literature coupled with his desire to make a difference landed him in English education. For that reason, I grew up knowing my dad as an English teacher. He was, and still is, well-liked by his students. He teaches juniors and seniors in high school and I’ve heard many stories about students telling him about how much of an impact he’s made on them. I was never the type to just want to follow in my parents footsteps. My dad heavily influenced me growing up, both academically and personally, but that didn’t mean I saw myself in his profession. That is, until my father remarried. He married one of the kindergarten teachers from my elementary school when I was in second grade. I bonded with my step-mom, Amy, in many ways, but one of my favorites was playing school with her, where we would switch roles, and I would set up the “classroom” and teach her. She would regularly drive me to school, and I would help her set up for the day. I loved the classroom environment, being known by all of the teachers, and visiting her students, who I was slightly older than. Once I was in fifth grade, I applied for the student council and got accepted. I loved being part of the school despite how young I was, and one of my roles in the student council was helping the younger kids get to their buses. Though it was nothing entirely difficult or educational, I enjoyed it for what it was.
Going into middle and high school, my passion for education pretty much diminished. I explored many options, but they were all relatively fleeting. All I knew was that I wanted to change the world, but I had no clue how to even begin building a platform for such aspirations. For a little while, I was super into sciences until math was involved, and I understood that wasn’t my strong suit. After that I wanted to be a singer. I was very involved in choir and always managed to be accepted into exclusive groups. Then came modeling, but it took a toll on my self-image. Moving on to high school, I wanted to pursue something artistic. I explored more types of music, painting, drawing, and even digital design. By the time high school was wrapping up, it came time to look at colleges and hopefully decide on a major. At the time, I had landed on fashion design. It was too late to begin a substantial portfolio, but I was obsessed with the idea of working in the fashion industry. I thought it was a great compromise between my appreciation of modeling and my creative knowledge. However, once I began doing more work and research toward that dream, I realized art was a hobby for me. “A big flaw of mine is that I always want to turn my hobbies into business,” my dad once told me. That is exactly what I had done, and it removed the joy from one of my favorite outlets. I thought long and hard about something that I continuously loved learning about. It couldn’t be English, as the only reason I liked English was because I was good at it. At least that’s what I thought until my senior year English composition class. My AP teacher was very similar to my dad, he told his students about his passion for music and how he landed in his career. He introduced me to literature that made an incredible impact on my love for the subject. Essays in that class were no longer “just for the grade” but were vigorous research on novels that I was desperate to learn more about. Absurdism became my favorite genre, because it reflected and fueled the way I think and feel about the world. But what would I do? Write a novel? I was worried no amount of education could give me the materials to build a life off of that. I was running out of time to decide what I would do. One random day leading up to application season, it hit me. What better way to have an impact than to be a teacher? It would be the perfect job to stress the importance of individuality to younger generations while still learning more about what I love every day. I decided I wanted to be an English teacher. I would only apply to schools that had a combined English education program, I knew I wouldn’t settle for one without the other.Â
Now that I’m in college, working on studying something that I’m restlessly passionate about, I can’t imagine stopping here. In terms of short-term goals, I want to do well, declare a philosophy minor, and continue learning as much as I possibly can about how I can make a difference. But beyond that, I hope to continue my education, to publish, write, and become a part of the subject I hold so close to my heart. I never thought I would end up where I am, but I feel secure and confident in the steps I am taking moving forward. I consider myself fortunate to have found something that I am truly proud to pursue, and I look forward to seeing where my journey takes me.