2024 has been a really big year for me. I turned 18, graduated high school as valedictorian, started college, made new friends, and have learned more about myself than I ever thought I would. If my year had a soundtrack the songs from 1989 (Taylor's Version) that would be on it are Shake it Off (Taylor's Version), Welcome To New York (Taylor's Version), Clean (Taylor's Version), and New Romantics (Taylor's Version). Shake it Off (Taylor's Version) is probably the soundtrack to my 2024. I have spent a lot of my life holding back and doing what others want because I was afraid of the consequences and afraid of what people would think of me. In 2024, I feel like I have done a lot better at not caring what people think. Shake it Off (Taylor's Version) really embodies what 2024 has done for me. Welcome to New York (Taylor's Version) represents really all of 2024 for me. I turned 18 and started college. I feel like 2024 really told me “Welcome to adulthood" and "welcome to college", which are two huge chapters in a person's life. Welcome to New York is about moving to New York with your friends and just having a great time and I feel like that perfectly embodies the goal of college, other than getting a degree. Clean (Taylor's Version) is a song that I hold near and dear to my heart. Turning 18 meant finally escaping a very toxic home situation for me. I know the song is technically about the aftermath of a romantic relationship, but I relate it to how I felt after finally being able to get out of that toxic home. One line in particular feels very significant to me, "Now that I'm clean, I'm never gonna risk it" ("Clean", Taylor Swift). I know that I will never allow myself to be put in another situation like I grew up in, and I will never allow myself to put my future children in that situation, even if it means I don't have children at all. New Romantics (Taylor's Version) is the last song that I would add to my 2024 soundtrack. This song truly embodies how it feels to be a senior in high school and a freshman in college. Whenever I listen to this song, I just envision friends hanging out and having a good time with each other, no matter the situation. I feel like that truly is what it's like your senior year in high school and your freshman year of college because there's so much that you’re trying to hold onto and so much new freedom that you gain. As a long time Swiftie, I am always finding ways to relate Taylor Swift's music to my life, which I think is truly beautiful since "all she writes about are her ex-boyfriends". 2024 has been such a pivotal year in my life and I feel like there are so many songs, not just Ms. Swift's that I could put into my soundtrack. 1989 (Taylor's Version) is such a fun and upbeat album, and I am so happy I am able to find ways to incorporate her songs into my soundtrack.

My name is Bekah Mayer and I have been interested in pursuing a career in teaching for as long as I can remember. My parents were both teachers and my dad was a high school football coach so I've spent my who life at school and I couldn't imagine being anywhere else. I enjoy working with children and look forward to helping prosper the minds of our youth as an elementary teacher. “Why a teacher? Why choose a profession that is underpaid and underappreciated when you’re smart enough and capable of doing so many other things?” This is the question I’ve gotten for many years and my honest answer is I don’t know. I do know that my parents were both teachers in the most influential times of my life. I do know that I’ve questioned it at some points, seeing how hard it is on my mom who is a kindergarten teacher. I do know that I’ve explored other options, tried to see what else was out there, but nothing stuck. I firmly believe that teaching is my calling, and I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. I’m often asked why I’m choosing to be an elementary teacher, especially the lower grades. I adore working with little kids--I feel most comfortable with them. Maybe that’s because I’m a teenager now, and it’s different having to work with kids my own age. Being an elementary teacher has always been a small part of the plan, which was reinforced by my own experiences. I’ve gotten the joy of being able to help out in my mom’s classroom for my senior year and have absolutely loved it. Yes, I know that helping and teaching are two entirely different things, but that still doesn’t sway me. I enjoy hearing the unfiltered things that kids may say and listening to the outlandish stories about “tormadoes” (tornadoes) that supposedly hit a student’s house. Being able to inspire students as a teacher has been my passion for as long as I can remember. I’ve never been able to see myself doing anything else, no matter how many different career plans I explored. My final plan for after high school is to go to Central Michigan University, majoring in elementary education--the program specifically being Teaching Grades Pk-3--and graduate college with as little debt as possible. Being fortunate enough to earn this scholarship would only get me one step closer to completing this plan.

For most high schoolers, the question of what to do after high school can be daunting. Lots of adult decisions have to be made before most of us even become of legal age. However, I’ve had the basis of my plan for as long as I can remember: go to college and become a teacher. The plan has been edited and revised since it was created, but only to be made stronger: what college do I plan to attend, how do I intend to pay for it, what grade(s) do I want to teach? The final plan was created in my freshman year of high school: I want to be an elementary school teacher, specifically grades K-2, and get my degree from Central Michigan University. “Why a teacher? Why choose a profession that is underpaid and underappreciated when you’re smart enough and capable of doing so many other things?” This is the question I’ve gotten for many years and my honest answer is I don’t know. I do know that my parents were both teachers in the most influential times of my life. I do know that I’ve questioned it at some points, seeing how hard it is on my mom who is a kindergarten teacher. I do know that I’ve explored other options, tried to see what else was out there, but nothing stuck. I firmly believe that teaching is my calling, and I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. I’m often asked why I’m choosing to be an elementary teacher, especially the lower grades. I adore working with little kids--I feel most comfortable with them. Maybe that’s because I’m a teenager now, and it’s different having to work with kids my own age. Being an elementary teacher has always been a small part of the plan, which was reinforced by my own experiences. I’ve gotten the joy of being able to help out in my mom’s classroom for my senior year and have absolutely loved it. Yes, I know that helping and teaching are two entirely different things, but that still doesn’t sway me. I enjoy hearing the unfiltered things that kids may say and listening to the outlandish stories about “tormadoes” (tornadoes) that supposedly hit a student’s house. The part of the plan that took me the longest to figure out was what college I plan to attend. I could never really come up with an answer for that because I was too young to really know what I wanted out of college. All I really knew was that I wanted to graduate college with as little debt as possible because I’ve seen what loan debt has done to my parents. Central Michigan became one of my top choices early on as I started figuring out what I wanted from a college. It’s close to home, in town so that I’m near everything I could need, and has a good teaching program. It never fell from the top spot on my college list as I looked at other colleges and decided where I was going to spend my first four years of adulthood. Being able to inspire students as a teacher has been my passion for as long as I can remember. I’ve never been able to see myself doing anything else, no matter how many different career plans I explored. My final plan for after high school is to go to Central Michigan University, majoring in elementary education, and graduate college with as little debt as possible. Being fortunate enough to earn this scholarship would only get me one step closer to completing this plan.

For most high schoolers, the question of what to do after high school can be daunting. Lots of adult decisions have to be made before most of us even become of legal age. However, I’ve had the basis of my plan for as long as I can remember: go to college and become a teacher. The plan has been edited and revised since it was created, but only to be made stronger: what college do I plan to attend, how do I intend to pay for it, what grade(s) do I want to teach? The final plan was created in my freshman year of high school: I want to be an elementary school teacher, specifically grades K-2, and get my degree from Central Michigan University. “Why a teacher? Why choose a profession that is underpaid and underappreciated when you’re smart enough and capable of doing so many other things?” This is the question I’ve gotten for many years and my honest answer is I don’t know. I do know that my parents were both teachers in the most influential times of my life. I do know that I’ve questioned it at some points, seeing how hard it is on my mom who is a kindergarten teacher. I do know that I’ve explored other options, tried to see what else was out there, but nothing stuck. I firmly believe that teaching is my calling, and I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. I’m often asked why I’m choosing to be an elementary teacher, especially the lower grades. I adore working with little kids--I feel most comfortable with them. Maybe that’s because I’m a teenager now, and it’s different having to work with kids my own age. Being an elementary teacher has always been a small part of the plan, which was reinforced by my own experiences. I’ve gotten the joy of being able to help out in my mom’s classroom for my senior year and have absolutely loved it. Yes, I know that helping and teaching are two entirely different things, but that still doesn’t sway me. I enjoy hearing the unfiltered things that kids may say and listening to the outlandish stories about “tormadoes” (tornadoes) that supposedly hit a student’s house. The part of the plan that took me the longest to figure out was what college I plan to attend. I could never really come up with an answer for that because I was too young to really know what I wanted out of college. All I really knew was that I wanted to graduate college with as little debt as possible because I’ve seen what loan debt has done to my parents. Central Michigan became one of my top choices early on as I started figuring out what I wanted from a college. It’s close to home, in town so that I’m near everything I could need, and has a good teaching program. It never fell from the top spot on my college list as I looked at other colleges and decided where I was going to spend my first four years of adulthood. Being able to inspire students as a teacher has been my passion for as long as I can remember. I’ve never been able to see myself doing anything else, no matter how many different career plans I explored. My final plan for after high school is to go to Central Michigan University, majoring in elementary education, and graduate college with as little debt as possible. Being fortunate enough to earn this scholarship would only get me one step closer to completing this plan.

For most high schoolers, the question of what to do after high school can be daunting. How do we plan to get a career, have a family, pay for a home? A lot of adult decisions have to be made before most of us even become of legal age. However, I’ve had the basis of my plan for as long as I can remember: go to college and become a teacher. The plan has been edited and revised since it was created, but only to be made stronger: what college do I plan to attend, how do I intend to pay for it, what grade(s) do I want to teach? The final plan was created in my freshman year of high school. I decided I want to be a lower elementary school teacher, and get my degree from Central Michigan University. “Why a teacher? Why choose a profession that is underpaid and underappreciated when you’re smart enough and capable of doing so many other things?” This is the question I’ve gotten for many years and my honest answer is I don’t know. I do know that my parents were both teachers in the most influential times of my life. I do know that I’ve questioned it at some points, seeing how hard it is on my mom who is a kindergarten teacher. I do know that I’ve explored other options, tried to see what else was out there, but nothing stuck. I firmly believe that teaching is my calling, and I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. I’m often asked why I’m choosing to be an elementary teacher, especially the lower grades. I adore working with little kids--I feel most comfortable with them. Maybe that’s because I’m a teenager now, and it’s different having to work with kids my own age. Being an elementary teacher has always been a small part of the plan, which was reinforced by my own experiences. I’ve gotten the joy of being able to help out in my mom’s classroom for my senior year and have absolutely loved it. Yes, I know that helping and teaching are two entirely different things, but that still doesn’t sway me. I enjoy hearing the unfiltered things that kids may say and listening to the outlandish stories. The part of the plan that took me the longest to figure out was what college I plan to attend. I could never really come up with an answer for that because I was too young to really know what I wanted out of college. All I really knew was that I wanted to graduate college with as little debt as possible because I’ve seen what loan debt has done to my parents. Central Michigan became one of my top choices early on as I started figuring out what I wanted from a college. It’s close to home, in town so that I’m near everything I could possibly need, and has a good teaching program. It never really fell from the top spot on my college list as I looked at other colleges and decided where I was going to spend my first four years of adulthood. Being able to inspire students as a teacher has been my passion for as long as I can remember. I’ve never been able to see myself doing anything else. My final plan for after high school is to go to Central Michigan University, majoring in elementary education, and graduate college with as little debt as possible. Being fortunate enough to earn this scholarship would only get me one step closer to completing this plan.

For most high schoolers, the question of what to do after high school can be daunting. How do we plan to get a career, have a family, pay for a home? A lot of adult decisions have to be made before most of us even become of legal age. However, I’ve had the basis of my plan for as long as I can remember: go to college and become a teacher. The plan has been edited and revised since it was created, but only to be made stronger: what college do I plan to attend, how do I intend to pay for it, what grade(s) do I want to teach? The final plan was created in my freshman year of high school. I decided I want to be a lower elementary school teacher, and get my degree from Central Michigan University. “Why a teacher? Why choose a profession that is underpaid and underappreciated when you’re smart enough and capable of doing so many other things?” This is the question I’ve gotten for many years and my honest answer is I don’t know. I do know that my parents were both teachers in the most influential times of my life. I do know that I’ve questioned it at some points, seeing how hard it is on my mom who is a kindergarten teacher. I do know that I’ve explored other options, tried to see what else was out there, but nothing stuck. I firmly believe that teaching is my calling, and I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. I’m often asked why I’m choosing to be an elementary teacher, especially the lower grades. I adore working with little kids--I feel most comfortable with them. Maybe that’s because I’m a teenager now, and it’s different having to work with kids my own age. Being an elementary teacher has always been a small part of the plan, which was reinforced by my own experiences. I’ve gotten the joy of being able to help out in my mom’s classroom for my senior year and have absolutely loved it. Yes, I know that helping and teaching are two entirely different things, but that still doesn’t sway me. I enjoy hearing the unfiltered things that kids may say and listening to the outlandish stories. The part of the plan that took me the longest to figure out was what college I plan to attend. I could never really come up with an answer for that because I was too young to really know what I wanted out of college. All I really knew was that I wanted to graduate college with as little debt as possible because I’ve seen what loan debt has done to my parents. Central Michigan became one of my top choices early on as I started figuring out what I wanted from a college. It’s close to home, in town so that I’m near everything I could possibly need, and has a good teaching program. It never really fell from the top spot on my college list as I looked at other colleges and decided where I was going to spend my first four years of adulthood. Being able to inspire students as a teacher has been my passion for as long as I can remember. I’ve never been able to see myself doing anything else. My final plan for after high school is to go to Central Michigan University, majoring in elementary education, and graduate college with as little debt as possible. Being fortunate enough to earn this scholarship would only get me one step closer to completing this plan.

For most high schoolers, the question of what to do after high school can be daunting. How do we plan to get a career, have a family, pay for a home? A lot of adult decisions have to be made before most of us even become of legal age. However, I’ve had the basis of my plan for as long as I can remember: go to college and become a teacher. The plan has been edited and revised since it was created, but only to be made stronger: what college do I plan to attend, how do I intend to pay for it, what grade(s) do I want to teach? The final plan was created in my freshman year of high school. I decided I want to be a lower elementary school teacher, and get my degree from Central Michigan University. “Why a teacher? Why choose a profession that is underpaid and underappreciated when you’re smart enough and capable of doing so many other things?” This is the question I’ve gotten for many years and my honest answer is I don’t know. I do know that my parents were both teachers in the most influential times of my life. I do know that I’ve questioned it at some points, seeing how hard it is on my mom who is a kindergarten teacher. I do know that I’ve explored other options, tried to see what else was out there, but nothing stuck. I firmly believe that teaching is my calling, and I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. I’m often asked why I’m choosing to be an elementary teacher, especially the lower grades. I adore working with little kids--I feel most comfortable with them. Maybe that’s because I’m a teenager now, and it’s different having to work with kids my own age. Being an elementary teacher has always been a small part of the plan, which was reinforced by my own experiences. I’ve gotten the joy of being able to help out in my mom’s classroom for my senior year and have absolutely loved it. Yes, I know that helping and teaching are two entirely different things, but that still doesn’t sway me. I enjoy hearing the unfiltered things that kids may say and listening to the outlandish stories. The part of the plan that took me the longest to figure out was what college I plan to attend. I could never really come up with an answer for that because I was too young to really know what I wanted out of college. All I really knew was that I wanted to graduate college with as little debt as possible because I’ve seen what loan debt has done to my parents. Central Michigan became one of my top choices early on as I started figuring out what I wanted from a college. It’s close to home, in town so that I’m near everything I could possibly need, and has a good teaching program. It never really fell from the top spot on my college list as I looked at other colleges and decided where I was going to spend my first four years of adulthood. Being able to inspire students as a teacher has been my passion for as long as I can remember. I’ve never been able to see myself doing anything else. My final plan for after high school is to go to Central Michigan University, majoring in elementary education, and graduate college with as little debt as possible. Being fortunate enough to earn this scholarship would only get me one step closer to completing this plan.

For most high schoolers, the question of what to do after high school can be daunting. How do we plan to get a career, have a family, pay for a home? A lot of adult decisions have to be made before most of us even become of legal age. However, I’ve had the basis of my plan for as long as I can remember: go to college and become a teacher. The plan has been edited and revised since it was created, but only to be made stronger: what college do I plan to attend, how do I intend to pay for it, what grade(s) do I want to teach? The final plan was created in my freshman year of high school. I decided I want to be a lower elementary school teacher, and get my degree from Central Michigan University. “Why a teacher? Why choose a profession that is underpaid and underappreciated when you’re smart enough and capable of doing so many other things?” This is the question I’ve gotten for many years and my honest answer is I don’t know. I do know that my parents were both teachers in the most influential times of my life. I do know that I’ve questioned it at some points, seeing how hard it is on my mom who is a kindergarten teacher. I do know that I’ve explored other options, tried to see what else was out there, but nothing stuck. I firmly believe that teaching is my calling, and I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. I’m often asked why I’m choosing to be an elementary teacher, especially the lower grades. I adore working with little kids--I feel most comfortable with them. Maybe that’s because I’m a teenager now, and it’s different having to work with kids my own age. Being an elementary teacher has always been a small part of the plan, which was reinforced by my own experiences. I’ve gotten the joy of being able to help out in my mom’s classroom for my senior year and have absolutely loved it. Yes, I know that helping and teaching are two entirely different things, but that still doesn’t sway me. I enjoy hearing the unfiltered things that kids may say and listening to the outlandish stories. The part of the plan that took me the longest to figure out was what college I plan to attend. I could never really come up with an answer for that because I was too young to really know what I wanted out of college. All I really knew was that I wanted to graduate college with as little debt as possible because I’ve seen what loan debt has done to my parents. Central Michigan became one of my top choices early on as I started figuring out what I wanted from a college. It’s close to home, in town so that I’m near everything I could possibly need, and has a good teaching program. It never really fell from the top spot on my college list as I looked at other colleges and decided where I was going to spend my first four years of adulthood. Being able to inspire students as a teacher has been my passion for as long as I can remember. I’ve never been able to see myself doing anything else. My final plan for after high school is to go to Central Michigan University, majoring in elementary education, and graduate college with as little debt as possible. Being fortunate enough to earn this scholarship would only get me one step closer to completing this plan.

In the world of Harry Potter, the house you are sorted into defines you. Everyone has a bit of each house in them, some just have more of one than others. I would be sorted into Hufflepuff because I am loyal, patient, and kind. Loyalty is one of the traits that I believe most people have at least a little bit of. By definition, loyalty means a strong feeling of support or allegiance. I am loyal to many things. I am loyal to my school's athletic teams when we are playing in games. I am loyal to my mother when people may try to insult her or talk bad about her to me. I am loyal to my friends when they need someone in their corner. I am also loyal to myself and my boundaries. I feel a strong sense of loyalty to these people and things because they have impacted my life in some way. My school's athletic teams give me and my school a sense of pride, my mom has always been there for me no matter what, my friends have been there through the hard times and the easy times, and I would be the girl I am today without staying loyal to myself or my boundaries. I believe myself to be an extremely patient person. I have two younger brothers who constantly try my patients and I have always wanted to be an elementary teacher, which I know takes a lot of patience. I don't mind waiting in line for items or for help. I try to have a lot of patience with others because I would want them to treat me the same. Kindness is something I have always made sure I give to people. Do you remember in elementary school when your teachers would teach about kindness and then share the golden rule? Well, the golden rule (treat others the way you want to be treated) is something I have tried to live by every day of my life. I know that my day would not be great if someone was rude to me for no apparent reason and I do not want to be that person for anyone else. I believe everyone deserves to be treated with kindness. To summarize, if I had gone to Hogwarts, I believe the sorting hat would have sorted me in Hufflepuff because I am loyal, patient, and kind.

My dream house would be located in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It would be a large, three-story six-bedroom five-bathroom house on the beach. The outside would be white fiber cement boards (hardie plank) and black clay tile roofing. There would be a nice wrap-around porch with plenty of seating for gatherings. The backyard would have a cement patio, with a dining area and a large pool. Off the backyard would be the beach and further out would be the ocean. There would also be a detached garage. As you walk in the front door there would be a large mud room for shoes and coats, then you would walk into the open floor plan of the first floor with a large living room, kitchen, and dining room. In the dining room, there would be French doors leading out to the wrap-around porch and backyard, and a lavish dining set. The kitchen would have a large island with a sink and plenty of seating. There would also be two large fridge-freezer combos, two ovens, a dishwasher, a microwave, and a nice walk-in pantry with a counter to store appliances that may not get used as often, such as a blender or crockpot. There would be plenty of cabinets for storage, countertop space, and a second sink at one of the walls. The living room would have gorgeous white built-ins around an electric fireplace. There would be a tv above the mantel and plenty of comfortable seating. The first floor would also have a laundry room, which has shoots that come from each room in the floors above to make transporting laundry easier on everyone, and a small storage room. The second floor would have a few bedrooms and bathrooms, along with a playroom. The third floor would have the rest of the bedrooms and bathrooms, along with a fabulous library. Each bedroom would get a nice walk-in closet and a few would have balconies. The library would have a nice seating area to enjoy reading in and even a bay window.

The dream version of my future self is a debt-free 2nd-grade teacher who does photography on the side and is living her best life.