“I am proud of the impact I’ve made as a teacher. I have wanted to be a teacher ever since I was a little girl. I used to make my brothers play school with me, using my closet doors as a chalkboard and creating homemade worksheets based on what I was learning in school. Being younger than me, they never understood any of it, but they played along nonetheless.

   The reason I wanted to become a teacher all those years ago was because I wanted to make a difference in the world. In my mind, educating the next generations was a small but powerful way that I could make a difference in this world we live in. I knew I couldn’t cure cancer nor could I stop wars, but I could teach someone who might do those things in their lifetime. I knew I could make a difference one student, one day, one class, one year at a time. Teaching is a hard profession, often without thanks, but I know from the students who tell me, who email me, who come back to visit me long after they leave my classroom, that I am making an impact in the world, and that’s pretty cool,” Instructor Erica Patterson said.