Degree: B.S. in Education
How did the Stamps Scholarship help shape your undergraduate experience?
The Stamps Scholarship helped me to discover my passions and my interests through mentors and providing the funding for me to pursue opportunities. Even more important, I believe that Stamps gave me a diverse set of friends across the nation who are passionate and driven. I am able to support these friends just as they support and encourage me! To be surrounded by such excellence is truly a gift indeed and has caused me to be more driven and want more for myself than I had originally planned for when coming into college.
Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give your freshman self?
Don’t worry about being the best or knowing what you’re going to do with your life. Take the time to figure it out through saying yes to opportunities! You are capable of so much more than you think!
Who has had the greatest impact on you throughout your college career and how so?
This is a hard question as I believe so many different people have shaped and guided me to where I am today! I would probably have to say my father though. He has been there for me through all the meltdowns and panics over school and next steps, and he always helps me see all the options. He is a very logical person, and when I tell him something, whether I am excited for it or nervous, he is always there to support and offer advice on how to make every experience better. Through late dinner conversations he has helped me to piece together my passions and help me process and understand available and open doors. He also has added little snippets of information about education (as he is an educator too) as I am learning it that gets me even more excited about what I am learning. He is a wonderful friend, mentor, and father! I am so lucky!
What comes next?
For the next steps, I have been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) Grant to the Czech Republic. This grant is a collaboration between the U.S. State Department and (in my case) the Czech Republic’s Government. From late August to late June, I will spend 10 months in a medium sized town called Zidlochovice which is just south of the large city of Brno (The second largest city in CZ). I will teach English and American culture to 12-19 year olds hoping to go to University. I am very excited for this opportunity!