“If excellence is possible, then good is not enough!” This was my seventh grade math teacher’s mantra. Her encouragement of excellence and love of teaching was one of the biggest influences in my decision to become a teacher. The other great influence in my career choice was my diagnosis of dyslexia in the second grade. School became a place that I strongly disliked and I oftentimes was discouraged due to the fact that everything was a struggle to me. Growing up, I attended a private school that was academically prestigious, but I was never looked at as academically gifted. Quite frankly, I thought of myself as the opposite: a student who did not fit in because my grades were average, and I had to put in much more effort to understand the material in comparison to the other students.
Throughout my struggles in school, the adults I could count
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Many people love to talk about their accomplishments and what they have achieved in their lifetime, but as the saying always goes, “actions speak louder than words.” Growing up, starting in middle school, I was recognized on many occasions for various academic awards, excellence in citizenship, outstanding service, most valuable player, and the list could go on, but one of most meaningful leadership positions that I was chosen for, was not chosen by my teachers, but instead by my own classmates. My peers chose me to be a part of a group of special students called Peer Leaders. As seniors, we were chosen to guide, lead, and mentor the students of the freshman class in helping them make right decisions and basically forming special bonds with these students as they prepare for the next four years of their high school experience. It was an amazing opportunity that helped me realized for the first time what it meant to be a “teacher.” I was responsible for my group of kids and it was my hope and prayer that I would in some sense influence them just as my teachers and the people I looked up to had done for