My Path to Becoming an Educator

I live happily with many people, but life has no passion and no life. When my mother died, she was only 9 years old My father tried to grow my brother and me, and sorrow lost my love for my life. He will let us join in the sports and make us busy. After graduation, I went to school to play basketball and play tennis. When I met my husband, I had to go home from school the first year. We got married in 7 months and we bore our first child 15 days after our first anniversary.

The way to become an educator is easy. This is a journey that makes me confident and frank as a teacher leader with disabilities. In 2014, after I received the national committee certification, I wanted to further expand my classroom. I want to use my voice to talk for other educators, especially from the perspective of educational policy, I encountered obstacles. Whether my thought is related to the current educational dialogue, and even if there is something along the way, I will ask if someone wants to hear what I am saying. Internally, I grew up as a daughter of a coal miner from Eastern Kentucky, and I grew up with a self-called shame as a stereotype with my background.

I grew up in the countryside of Kentucky farmers and coal miners and always knew that education is the way to economic success in the 21st century. That's why it is one of the most proud achievements in my life to acquire a bachelor's degree at Kentucky Wesleyan University and then a master's degree at Kentucky University. However, as a first generation college student, my access to these degrees is not easy. Just like a million low-income students going to college every year, I do not know where I will go to school or how to pay. To me, getting Pell Grant to support graduate students' career is a lifeline that I need.