I chose the University of Evansville because I wanted to go to a college where the professors would know me and care about my success. With the small class sizes and small campus, UE felt like home right away.

The professors were always available during office hours when I needed help with my classes; they were also open to talking about my career aspirations, which was extremely helpful to me since I was not sure for the first year of college what I wanted to do as a career. They listened to me and gave me good advice, and that is not something you are likely to find at a big college where the professors may not even know your name. The Math Department truly felt like such a close-knit community. I had many of my professors for multiple classes throughout my four years of college and became remarkably close with them. My professors pushed me to be my best daily and provided me with a challenging experience that would lead me to success in my career.

My fondest memory was my senior math project where a fellow math major and I partnered up to create a way to predict the results of the NCAA Basketball Tournament using mathematics and computer programming. We were so excited to find out that we ended up with very accurate predictions that would have likely won many tournament pools if we had entered our bracket! It was truly an unforgettable experience. I also received the honor of being named the Most Outstanding Freshman Math Major and Most Outstanding Senior Math Major at the University during my four years.

I was hired to teach at North High School in the fall of 2017 while I was still finishing my last semester at UE. Being a UE Education major is a big plus for many of the local high schools when they look to hire new teachers, which says a lot about the math and education departments at UE. I received offers from three different schools in the Evansville area, so finding a job was not a challenge. I have been teaching math at North High School for the last six years. I started in the lower-level classes of Algebra 1 and Algebra 2, but have now advanced to teaching statistics, trigonometry, and AP Statistics. Teaching AP Statistics has been an extreme challenge, but I have thoroughly enjoyed having some of the best students at North High School.

It is such a joy to teach students who are passionate about the subject and truly want to learn. I have also been coaching the math academic team for the past six years; so, I get to work with the smartest math students in the school every year. We have placed first in our city competition for multiple years. In just six years, I have made countless lifelong relationships with many students. You do not get to do that with most jobs. I get to have an influence on the lives of young adults every day.

A teacher has the power to instill a love of learning in their students and show them the power of education. There is no job more important or more rewarding than teaching our future leaders. Our country is in dire need of passionate young mathematicians that want to share their expertise with the next generation. We need the best and brightest mathematicians in our classrooms for our country to prosper.