An Unexpected Journey by Madalyn

An Unexpected Journey by Madalyn - February 2024 Scholarship Essay

If you were to ask second grade me, "What do you want to be when you grow up?", I probably would have said something along the lines of, "I'm not sure, but definitely not a teacher". I loved every teacher I had in elementary school, but that did not make me want to become one. Just from being a student, I could see all of the time, preparation, and energy that went into being a teacher, and it seemed like all too much work for little pay. As I got older, I continued being surrounded by amazing teachers who had a deep passion for their job. School was never a place I didn't want to go to, and I have all of my teachers to thank for that.

In middle school, I began volunteering with kids through Vacation Bible School, prayer buddies and more. I had also begun to babysit and spend more time with my younger cousins, I started becoming slightly interested in having a career in teaching, but I figured that desire would go away in time when I inevitably experienced a meltdown from my four-year-old cousin. To my surprise, that didn't happen. In fact, my desire to work with children continued to grow. Throughout high school I continued babysitting and volunteering in many different places, and I even began teaching Sunday school at my church. I fell in love with helping children grow and better understand the world around them, while also being a positive role model in their lives. By my junior year, I had finally realized that all of these little experiences in working with children was the path to me eventually becoming a teacher.

Now as a freshman in college, I am overjoyed in the fact that I am majoring in Elementary Education. I know that all of my hard work now will allow me to grow and to become a teacher that enables my students to grow and flourish both in and outside of the classroom. Through teaching practicums alongside my classes, I am able to apply what I am learning in class directly into the students I work with through tutoring students and assisting in classrooms. It isn't always easy, but I remind myself of how many lives I can impact through my future career as a teacher, and with that, I can't help but know that my future will be full of doing something I thoroughly enjoy.

My second grade self would definitely be utterly shocked and flabbergasted at what I am studying now, but soon she would realize why I chose this major. Plus, she had to see it coming when my mom, grandmother, and great-grandmother were all teachers, there was no way I could get around that.