"I Did Not Want to Be a Teacher"

“Well, something that comes to mind and kind of in the context of me being a teacher is I did not want to be a teacher. That was not my intent. When I was in school, I mean, even in elementary, junior high, high school, I always loved the idea of helping people. But for me, like my idea of success was like monetary, and being in a particular type of profession that had prestige, if you will. That was important to me for all the wrong reasons. 

And so that's kind of what I was chasing. And you know, when I got into high school, that's when I got a little more serious about grades and, and classes, like many students here do. And so I was taking all the AP classes I could and, and trying to go to the best college as I could. And so I think sometime in college I went in, and I wanted to study neuroscience, and was considering being a doctor. And I just, I didn't struggle with classes up until that point, and I just like, couldn't force myself to study. Like, I didn't have the same structure that I had at home. 

Because in my high school experience, I lived with my folks. And so things like laundry, meals- those were taken care of for me. My parents knew I was driven to go to college. My siblings weren't. So my siblings worked in high school, and that was probably the expectation for me. 

But we didn't have a lot of money. So my parents -my dad specifically- was like, don't work. We'll take care of your stuff for you. So, um, kind of all those basic needs that we all have, those were all taken care of for me. And so I was able to really invest into my classes and do well in school. 

And I, you know, I did well in high school. That was kind of my drive, but when I got to college and now I'm taking care of my own laundry, figuring out what I need to do for meals-  and all the responsibilities came with that. 

It really changed my perspective on how, you know, like when I was investing all that time in high school, I kind of realized like, if I was taking care of these other things, I'm not sure I would've cared as much. So that was kind of a point where it's like having to figure out myself really at this point. 

Like, who am I, what, what is my approach? I'm so used to approaching classes a certain way. I didn't have that same drive. Like, I was really searching for meaning and how I was spending my time and kind of grappling with like, this is expensive, I'm paying for my own education, I can't mess this up. And so that's when I realized that some of these courses I was taking weren't fulfilling. It kind of put me into a place of like, okay, what am I doing? It's a weird place to be at. 

And so, and I think at that point it was like, okay, like what do I want to do? No idea. And so I ended up majoring in something that I enjoyed. I loved languages, I love to travel- Like, that's something that I learned in high school that kind of filled me with life. Like when I went to different places, I felt like a different person. It was just like, wow, this is amazing. 

And so, like, I followed after language. I took Spanish and Portuguese- Latin America and Caribbean was kind of my focus, and so International studies is what I originally majored in when I was an undergrad. And I was very interested in Spanish and language. I even went to study abroad in Madrid- great experience. 

And I, uh, I thought that I would use that right away and do some sort of non-profit or some type of work. And I just had like nothing out of college. Yeah. I was just like, oh my gosh, what am I gonna do?

And so I ended up working with my dad doing construction for a little bit, and then I got my first job at, uh, PACCAR, which is like this company. It's, down by like, Boeing in Renton. And they have this big facility, Kenworth PACCAR. They're all part of this company that deals with building semi trucks, all over the world. And they had a division at the time- they were starting a division in Brazil, they had a division in New Mexico. And so I thought, okay, maybe that's my in.

I was in a cubicle for eight hours a day. 

My job was, It was awful. My job was to type in five digit numbers, and hit enter, and let the computer load, and then do that basically all day. That's what I was getting paid in a day. For the most part, that was primarily my job. We dealt with warranty returns for like different dealerships around the country, and so every part that was returned had a serial number and it had to be registered. And so that's what I got to do, and I didn't last very long. It was like about nine months. I was like, I'm quitting. I don't have a plan, but I can't do this anymore. And of course my family thought I was crazy. Like, what are you gonna do? I was like, I don't know! Not this! 

And, um, at that point, I, I was, it was, it was kind of a low point in my life. I had two or three months where I wasn't working, I wasn't hitting on any applications. I just didn't, I didn't really know what I wanted to do. And I think that probably came through in those applications as well. And, I had a good friend from college who invited me down with his family to just have a vacation down in Bend, Oregon. 

And his parents I knew before, and they were wonderful. And his mom worked at a middle school in Bellevue. And you know, of course I shared my story and like, how I was looking for work. And she was like, Hey, you should consider this. 

 And it was an instructional aide position at her middle school. And so I was like, okay. You know, I like helping people. But I kind of started this off with thinking, that teaching was not the direction I was going in. Like, I didn't see myself working in schools. But when I started working in schools and when I was around kids, and when I was around the different educators, people that are there for kids- I kind of fell in love.

  And at that point, within that year, I decided, okay, I'm gonna, do this- I think I'm gonna go for this. And so I enrolled in a master's program at SPU, where the next year I was taking classes. I did like a five semester summer to summer program. It was kind of intense- and then the next year I got a job here And I've been here ever since. 

I ended up teaching math here to start, and always loved math and then learned to love science when I had a great biology teacher in high school that made me think I loved sciences. And I do have a passion for it, but I think it's interesting how people can inspire you know? 

Helping people is what it boils down to for me. It's like I, that's like my favorite thing. I've kind of got like the ultimate little brother syndrome, if you will. 

I always don't wanna be the star of the show. I want to see other people be the stars of the show. Like, help them get there. And for me, that's what drives me."