Hello everyone! My name is Tyra and I am a junior studying Mathematics Education. I have been working at CSU’s Precalculus Center since 2020 and I will also be starting at the Calculus Center this upcoming semester. Through these, and other experiences, I have only confirmed my desire to become a teacher. I am passionate about mathematics and it is so tremendously rewarding to have the opportunity to share that passion with my future students. I feel that for too long there has been a stigma around mathematics, that if a student does not excel right off the bat then mathematics is not for them. I hope to reverse this ideology and encourage students to put in the work to explore and understand mathematics! Outside of math, I really enjoy playing volleyball and listening to music! I spend a lot of time out exploring Fort Collins with my friends and am hoping to spend some more time at Horsetooth this year!
Brenna Sydow 2021
My name is Brenna Sydow and I am a fourth year student at CSU in Biology. I am a Colorado native, born and raised, but new to Fort Collins. I grew up in Hudson, Colorado, a small rural community out east and grew up around agriculture and the farming lifestyle. My past greatly impacts who I am today and my mission for my future, which is to be a science educator. I watched the schools where I grew up struggle because of funding issues and thus their curriculum struggled as well. I was privileged enough to attend a private school that was almost forty minutes away from my home, but that was the only place my parents felt the curriculum was strong to prepare me for the real world. While I am so grateful for that opportunity, my heart still goes out to all of the schools that I grew up around, and thus my goal for myself is to bring science to even the most disadvantaged places. I have been working with the Little Shop of Physics at CSU these past three years to do just this. But my hope for when I graduate is to potentially teach at one of these schools where I grew up and do my best to make science accessible, engaging, and fun and to show kids that really, anybody can be a scientist.
Emma Szalach 2021
My goal as a future teacher is to create a safe and inviting learning environment that fosters a passion for science. Students should view science and technology as fun and exciting despite any challenges they may face in the classroom while learning difficult concepts. I hope that my classroom can impact students in a positive way and inspire a love for learning and discovering new things!
Venus Cariaso 2019
I want to teach to help students realize their full potential and grow from there. I want to teach the idea that being good at math is not some gene you are born with, however it is a skill achieved through hard work and dedication. I want students to be okay with challenges and have the courage to persevere through them.
Emily Bergmann 2018
Chemistry and science has been a part of Emily’s life since she was young, as her dad was a high school Chemistry teacher. Thus, since she was little, she wanted to continue to be immersed in the field of science, especially Chemistry. She also has found a passion in sharing her love for science with others, teaching the nuances. Not only does she want to make Chemistry fun for students, more than anything, she wants to make an impact in as many student’s lives as possible.
Amy Clark 2018
Reason for wanting to teach STEM: I grew up doing a lot of hiking and my love of plants and wildlife turned into obsession. The fascination led me to several plant research opportunities in college. With a desire to teach in some capacity, I decided becoming a professor was the best course of action so that I could continue researching. However, once I began working as a teaching assistant I discovered two things: 1. I loved teaching and it seemed much more important to work with people than with plants in a lab. 2. Many students have misconceptions about science and were inadequately prepared for college level science courses. For these reasons I decided to focus on secondary science education and hope that my future students can get excited about exploring the sciences, taking part in the discussion, and thinking critically about the world around them.
Erin Dawson 2018
My name is Erin Dawson and I am an undergraduate student studying math education. I was born and raised in Apple Valley, Minnesota. I was inspired to become a math teacher by my high school math teacher. He had a huge impact on all of his students and had a great positive attitude that motivated all students to get excited about learning math. I want to become a math teacher to inspire all students, especially girls, to love math and other STEM content areas.
Alanna Pipkin 2017
I want to become a math teacher so that I can help students realize that math is so applicable to many areas of life and can be fun and very interesting (yes, really!) I love that math is so defined yet mysterious, that there are certainties, but also a limitless wealth of knowledge that we haven’t even considered. My desire to is to genuinely connect with students and ultimately help them discover their own passions and ambitions, and to help them find resources to succeed.
Bhreanna Quinlan 2017
Reason for Teaching: I love kids and being able to give them knowledge about something they didn’t know before is a truly rewarding feeling. Science is a subject that is always evolving and we are learning new things about it everyday, it’s a fascinating subject to learn about the world and the things around us. Teaching students about science is amazing, and having their eyes fill with wonder, knowledge, questions, or even confusion about science makes me honored that I can help them learn more about it.
Julia Sanders 2018
Reason for wanting to teach: Chemistry is the unification of math and matter—it shapes everything in our world at the most fundamental level. I hope that by teaching chemistry, my students will want to explore and question the world around them so they learn how to examine their world critically and want to understand why things work the way they do. Teaching is how we give our students the gifts of knowledge and understanding, when met with inquisitiveness, problems begin to be solved, and the world is changed—even if that change is just within the students themselves. I want to teach because it allows me to help my students and show my students that they can change the world themselves, they don’t need to wait for someone else to tell them how.
Thanh Tu Nguyen 2018
Hello, my name is ThanhTu Nguyen, currently an undergraduate student majoring in Math Education. I was born in Vietnam but had happily called Westminster, Colorado home after moving here with my family in the 4th grade. My love for math started way back in kindergarten when I learned to play chess. From chess, I found a fascination for logic, strategy, and calculation, and so math has always been my favorite subject in school since then. As ab immigrant and a first-generation college student, I highly value education and so I enter the field of teaching with the hope to make higher education for accessible for students with similar backgrounds.
