Since I was five years old I knew I wanted to be a teacher, and as I grew up I changed my mind several times to things that seemed much cooler. Things like, a princess, a dancer, a doctor, a surgeon (blame this one on Grey's Anatomy), a psychologist, or an actress, basically anything that made me a lot of money. However, I would always go back to my desire of being a teacher. I wanted to impact the lives of others and slowly one child at a time change the world. I also wanted to make education and learning more active and fun. I wanted to bring the arts into my classroom while teaching all the core subjects. I just wanted to be in a classroom and teach children how to dream big and dare to believe they can be anything they want.

Then I went to Uganda for the first time. While there I saw children with a great desire to learn, it was their way out of their village and their opportunity to become whoever and whatever they desire. It was unlike anything I'd witnessed before. In America you see you kids who are forced to go to school but in Uganda you see kids who's only hope was in an education, but at any moment it could be taken away from them. It was then that I realized I wanted to move to Uganda and teach their full time. I wanted to bring new hope to these students reminding them that their education is theirs to keep and to fight with them to keep them in school.

This is what lead me into their Peace Corps as a literacy Specialist teaching students to read and write. Showing them that they can dream of being anything they want because they are getting an education. Reminding them that their education is important, it is theirs, and no one else can take it from them. I also get to remind them that in order to be whatever they want in the future they need to continue their education all the way through university and with hard work and dedication just that will happen.

The Peace Corps has allowed my biggest dream to come true and that is being a teacher overseas. I am able to use my creativity to create lessons that are fun, engaging, and different then the students and teachers are used which I hope has allowed the students to learn new skills.

I hope to teach I my country of service for longer than the two years that is required of me. However, I know that might end up teaching in the states again some day and if I do I hope I can create a classroom of learners that desire to learn as much as my students do here in my country of service.

Peace Corps is more than just education. If you desire to work overseas look up Peace Corps and see if their is a job that fits your dreams. I promise you won't regret it.