Everyone wants to make a difference in some way. For the longest time, I was pursuing careers like a doctor or an engineer, because all I wanted to do in my life was something important, and I felt like those "big" and "noticeable" careers were the only way to make a difference in the world. Now I know that becoming a teacher is one of the best ways that you can leave your positive mark on the world.

I am pursuing a career in Elementary Education, simply because I had teachers starting in the lower elementary grades that have helped shape the person that I am now. Not everyone has had experiences like I have, but I think that most people can think back to their grade school years and pick out a teacher that made an impact on them, whether it was positive and inspiring, or they made them hate school for the rest of time. Either way, certain teachers have that impact on their students that can stay with them well into their adulthood.

The teachers we all have in elementary school are the foundation of academic work for us. They teach us how to read and write, they give us so much knowledge, and they instill in us the work ethic and attitude towards learning that we carry into the future years of our education. If I have the power to become a teacher and make an impact on even just one child, I will do it in a heartbeat. Our teachers are important, they're special, and they shape us into the people we are now more than we will ever know.

I can see now that being a humble teacher isn't useless; I am going to have the opportunity to teach and inspire young students that might grow up to cure cancer, or become the next Steve Jobs, and to me, that is what it means to me to make a difference in the world.