As I recall my past and then think about my future, I can very much see myself teaching young children how to endure life and get the best out of it. I grew up with three siblings, two being younger than me; therefore I had the privilege of playing ‘mom’ while our mom was at work. Learning how to care for younger siblings at a young age is actually a very special feeling, then knowing I was doing a good job made me feel even better. I remember my mom always calling me the ‘second mom’ and I always thought, “Yes, that I am.” I enjoyed taking care of my brother and sister and from this experience it has grown on me to want to help kids, and that is why I have decided to become an elementary teacher. As I was growing up and watching my parents work hard and succeed, I knew I wanted the same thing when I was older. As a child I always helped at our cheese factory. It was expected of me. Even though I didn’t always enjoy helping, it has taught me a great work ethic and I wouldn’t have wanted my parents to raise me any other way. I learned to work extremely hard from my parents as they are committed to our business and making it bigger and more profitable. I’ve learned from them that in order to get what you want; you have to work for it. Life isn’t always easy, sometimes it never is, but with the help of God we will get through anything. Since I was in first grade until I was a junior in high school, I was an active member of my Girl Scout troop. In scouts we attended many different events, camps, and helped provide assistance in our community. Through scouts I learned to be honest and fair to everyone, whether they are to you or not. In choosing to be a teacher, this will come in handy as I will need to teach that to my students someday. While in scouts I met a lot of different people and made more friends, other than just the girls in my troop. In scouts we also provided a day to take many children under our care while moms went out shopping for Christmas, on this day it took a lot of patience and knowing when to be calm and assist the children with the projects we provided for them. This was a good experience as we watched approximately 30 kids that day. When I was in elementary school I had many great teachers and when I look back it’'s so obvious they love their job. That is the kind of teacher I want to be when I’m finished at UWP. I want to strive to make a child’s day a little bit better; I want to experience the feeling of helping a student on something they may not understand fully and see their eyes light up when they do understand and I want children to learn to love school. When I was in school my first grade teacher was my favorite. She always had a smile on her face and was ready to start the day and at the end of the day she still had that same smile. She is who I want to be like. To this day I admire her for all the patience and love she had for her students. When I see her now, she is still the same “Miss Jones” to me that I had in first grade, even though that was many years ago. The idea of being able to support elementary-aged students in their education and teach them some important aspects of life is so fulfilling to me. I love being around children and have noticed this more as I have many younger cousins. I enjoy the presence of them and being able to know they look up to me for certain things. I am very excited to start my career in teaching children and hope they enjoy coming to school each day.