Major: Mathematics

Minor: UF Teach, Educational Studies

Graduate: 2013

For my internship, I taught Algebra 1 to two classes at P.K. Yonge developmental research school. I currently am working at Sylvan Learning Center and will start my teaching career at First Coast High School in Jacksonville, FL. I am very excited to start my new job and to leap into the real world!

I have been wanting to teach since I was a little girl. I even played “classroom” with my “students,” which consisted of me taking fake roll and grading fake papers and talking to my dolls. I really was born to do this! However, I never really knew what subject I wanted to teach. I had to make a decision on a major Sophomore year at UF. I decided to try studying Mathematics because I knew I was good at Calculus. Then I excelled and found my passion! Teaching math is really rewarding to me because I know many people struggle with the subject and through my education I can help them find different ways to grasp math concepts. Sometimes the problem with learning math is being taught one direct route to get an answer when in fact there are many roads that lead to the same destination.

Winning the Noyce Scholarship opened many doors for me and lead me down a path that I was not expecting. I was planning on applying to the school district where I attended high school, but the district is not a high  needs district. I was going to try getting a job at my own high school where I still know teachers and the principal. My horizons were not going to expand before I won the Noyce Scholarship. Now my job will be at a school in an area I never have been. I will meet many new people and open my eyes to a new school. I scold myself for being so narrow minded before this happened. I am excited to see where my new job takes me, to explore a new school, and to meet new teachers. I am glad that my teaching will benefit students in a high need area. I am sure that this new step in life will be very rewarding.