When asked why I am a teacher, I think about the people that have guided me throughout my educational years. I was never the model student. I cared more about what I wore and what people thought of me than I did my grades. Yet, there were teachers along the way that saw something in me and made the effort to show me they believed in my abilities. It was my Third-Grade teacher who read Harry Potter to the class with an accent and emotion in every line, capturing my focus for the first time in the classroom. It was my 6^th grade English teacher who chose to publish my poem because she was so proud of my work. It was my Algebra teacher freshman year of high school who would take me to lunch because she knew who I would be hanging out with if I weren’t with her. It was my Geometry teacher who sat patiently with me after class while I struggled to understand the material, until somehow it clicked. These teachers all had something in them that I wanted, and not until much later I saw in myself, they cared.

I am lucky enough to have started my teaching career at The Cooper School. There is something so special about our little school that I could feel walking through the door for the first time. The belief that children can do bigger and brighter work, and go beyond the work that is in front of them, to connect it to their outside worlds is something not seen in other schools. The focus on the whole child, the community, and the way that the children learn is something that immediately felt special to me. Teaching offers me a unique bond, a blessing, and a responsibility to ensure that my students know how important they are. The Cooper School’s heavy focus on social-emotional learning creates a success that builds and nourishes relationships through the entire community. Immediately upon entering The Cooper School, you can feel these relationships and these relationships are what I hold near to my heart.