The first vivid memory I have about my learning was in my fourth grade. My favorite teacher Mr. Smith. This was going to be his last year teaching at Arthur Stevenson Elementary School, and I was very fortunate to be able to have him as my teacher. Mr. Smith taught us so many things, all with a hands-on experience. I remember falling in love with the subject of math after finishing the fourth grade with Mr. Smith. He knew that not everyone learnt in the same way so he always tried to incorporate different ways of teaching the subjects. Although Mr. Smith was also a great teacher in the classroom, he was also a fabulous teacher outside of the classroom. It was because of Mr. Smith I started my ten-year long volleyball career. Growing up I had always played soccer, but going into elementary school my eyes were opened to great new opportunities to learn new sports. My favorite of them all being volleyball. Mr. Smith had taken me under his wing and taught me everything he knew about the sport and how to succeed in it. For Mr. Smith education wasn’t just about being in the classroom and looking at a book for six hours straight, while trying to memorize everything. It was about the relationships you make and the useful knowledge you can take with you for the rest of your life. Because of Mr. Smith I didn’t hate math nor just play soccer. He gave me something in my past that I have forever been grateful for, and that is the knowledge to know that there are different ways of learning and that we are all unique, and that is okay.
Another one of my most influential teachers was after I had entered university. My first two and a half years at Thompson Rivers University I was enrolled in my Bachelor of Science degree. This was something I had thought was going to be great for me, but unfortunately I was wrong. I ended up taking a sociology course as one of my electives and completely fell in love with the material. I was scared and nervous to change my major, I had worked so hard and already put in so much of my time to finishing my science degree. I took another sociology course the following semester with Monica Sanchez, and she opened my eyes. Her dedication and love for the subject was intense, like nothing I had ever felt before. I knew that she was smitten with that she did for a career and still does today. She taught me so much about not only sociology but also about being passionate about something you do. You are not going to succeed unless you like what you are doing. I found Monica’s teaching skills also very hands on, and she was always there to help you along the way if you ever got stuck. She wanted to make sure her students succeeded, and was there to help make that happen. Monica was very easy to talk to, and had so much knowledge about the topics she was teaching. It was because of Monica I switched over my degree to something I to felt so passionate about. I have continued with following my path of a sociology degree and plan on graduating this June. If it wasn’t for Monica, I would have stayed in a degree that I knew wasn’t the one for me. I had finally found my way within my education and it was all because of my sociology professor Monica Sanchez.