At a young age, I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher. My mom is a middle school teacher which also inspired me to be one. My mother would sometimes take my sister and I to her work  which made me be able to observe how she taught. My mom is considered a “strict” teacher, however at home,  she was a person who was relaxed and laid back. Her being a strict teacher was a weird side of her to see, but all this caused the students to listen and cooperate with her.   

             My mom would always tell me benefits of why being a teacher was a good job when I was younger. She told me how teachers get to have summer, winter,  spring break, and weekends off.  She also pointed out on how teaching was fun. I will admit, break's off was a huge factor to why I wanted to be a teacher, but the teaching aspect  was  a part that  worried me.  I did not think I had the potential to be a good teacher because I never knew how to teach someone anything.   

             At the age of 8 I started a martial art called Aikido.  After two years of being in Aikido, I was able to obtain a green belt. A green belt is four belts away from being a black belt. At the time, I had to stay a green belt for a long time because of my age. In the dojo I attend, you must be 15 years or older to become a black belt just so the student was mature physically and mentally. During my time as a green belt, my sensei suggested that I should practice in the kids/ beginners class again, while practicing in the intermediate classes. At first I was confused as to why she would let me go back to the children's class when I was already so advanced and in the intermediate classes.  My sensei later told me she needed help with teaching beginners the basic techniques, so I decided to help her out.

             As I started practicing and working with the beginners, I found myself enjoying helping them. Everyone learned at a different pace and every one was a different age. There were kids who were at the age of 3,  to students who were even much older than me. The more I helped teach someone a new skill the more I started to realize how fun teaching people were. Whenever a student was able to learn a technique and do it correctly, I always felt good inside knowing that I actually helped a person become better. This was actually when I realized I really do want to be a teacher.  My reason for being a teacher was no longer only because of my mom, but also because I found out I really did have potential in teaching people and it was something I was good at.

             To this day, I still want to become a teacher because I still enjoy  teaching others.  Now that I am older, I am currently in charge of the Monday and Wednesday classes at the dojo, where I help and assist my Sensei in teaching the class. My sister and I have even started a U.O.G. Aikido club where we teach U.O.G. students Aikido at the Field House on Tuesday's and Thursdays.By becoming more comfortable with teaching through Aikido, I know that this is the career path I want.