Who was your favorite childhood teacher and how did they influence you?
Mr. Robinson, 7th grade geography at Centreville Middle School in Greenwood Indiana. He was a great encourager. He used to tell me that when I would grow up I would own Bradshaw Enterprises. Everyday he would ask me ”How is Bradshaw Enterprises?” I want to be a Mr. Robinson to someone some day.

Who is the biggest influence in your personal life?
My mom. She is my best friend. A lot of people say they don’t want to be like their parents when they grown up, but I want to be just like her.

Why did you choose USI?
My first choice was to go to a private university, then I saw how much it was going to cost. I looked at USI because my older sister went here. On a visit, I saw how good the education department is and that was the deciding factor.

Why did you choose education as your major?
Teaching is the best job in the whole world. It is essential and it is always changing. Everyday is something different, how can you get bored?

What is the best thing about college life?
Testing your independence and learning about yourself. You learn how responsible your are or not!

What is the worst thing about college life?
Not having enough time to work-being poor. Being financially independent is really hard.

What is the best thing about being an education major at USI ?
USI provides more field education than any other college or university in the state. I have good friends at other schools here in Indiana and I have accumulated more field experience than any of them.

What is your favorite college course?
Children’s Literature with Dr. Hamon. I love her and consider her a real friend at this point in college. I love to read and seeing how you can use literature as a tool in teaching.

What is the best part about student teaching/observing?
To the kids you are a new face, you have a totally different relationship with the kids than the teacher has. You are kind of the fun one and the teacher is the enforcer. Although in these last few weeks of student teaching 5th grade, I have definitely found myself getting tougher.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you as a student teacher?
On the first or second day of teaching, my cell phone went off and the kids became totally distracted by what kind of cell phone I had, was it an I-phone, a Blackberry and on and on and on. Now I always make sure my cell phone is turned off.

What is your dream job as an educator?
I would love to be a 4th grade social studies teacher. Down the road I want to be a principal.