What specific experiences (honors or otherwise) in the past year have had the most impact on your personal, academic, or professional goals and life trajectory? Which future experiences will further encourage this growth? Please articulate specific academic and/or professional goals for the next year.​

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The 2024-2025 school year holds a special place in my heart as it was the school year that I fully found my place in the education field. 

 

During the Spring 2025 semester my practicum cohort was placed to volunteer in 4th and 5th grade classrooms. I was so very excited for this experience as I knew that I wanted to teach upper grades and had only had experiences in the lower grades. Working with these students was everything and more! While the content that we taught the students wasn’t the most exciting (personal finance and entrepreneurship), the energy that my teaching partner and I brought into the classroom was so strong that the students were able to also get excited and connect with us and the content! Leaving this experience I 100% knew that working with students this age was something I was meant to do. Being able to connect to them on a social level while still teaching them and watching them grow in their learning is something that I greatly admire. 

 

I’ve always known that I wanted to work in school administration after classroom teaching for a few years and this experience also helped grow that love for me as well. My favorite part about the field of education is being able to connect with students and watch them grow, something I admire about being a school principal as you can watch students grow from ages 5 to 10, learning themselves and the world around them. Not only this, but I want to be a principal so that I can help make decisions that will better the lives and the learning of my students. This is ultimately done by building those connections and knowing the students that you serve. 

 

This summer I will be creating and completing a Summer Scholars program for local students and families, building activities and resources to allow for them to continue learning over the summer break. This experience will help me to continue to learn more about becoming both a teacher AND and administrator as I will be deep-diving into the Ohio Learning Standards to ensure that topics align to what students are needing to know in the classroom. 

 

I am so grateful for this past school year and cannot wait to continue to grow in the field of education!

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