I graduated from the University of Central Missouri in May 2024 and I am beyond grateful for my time there. My goal since kindergarten was to be a teacher – there was no doubt about it. When I was accepted into the college of education, I was so excited. This program pushed me to become the best version of me, as a person and as a teacher. While at UCM, I participated in various professional development programs hosted by the education department, where I had enough hours to fill an entire page on my resume.
May of 2024 in front of the Lovinger Building. Curless
earned her bachelor’s of science in education and par-
ticipated in student teaching during her time at UCM.
Photo submitted by Joanna Curless.
Growing up, math was my worst subject. I would cry any time math was mentioned. But because of an opportunity that UCM gave me called “Math Connections,” where we were given the opportunities to create connections through math while developing our skills teaching math, I was able to learn to love it. This program and the facilitator, Associate Instructor in Elementary Education; Elementary Math Specialist Meredith Beggs, helped deepen my understanding of teaching elementary math and made math my strongest subject to teach.
I took one semester to finish up some classes before I started student teaching. During that semester, I held a long-term substitute position in kindergarten and if it wasn’t for Associate Professor in Elementary Education Karen Lomen, I would not have been as successful during that time. The class I was taking from her taught me how to teach children to learn. Everything I was learning in that class, I was able to directly implement into my kindergarten classroom. I was able to fully help these students as a teacher and not just as a substitute. UCM gave me more than just amazing professional development opportunities. The program itself and the classes I took were amazing. The classes felt like a family and the relationships will last a lifetime. One of my best friends is someone I met sitting in the classroom on the first day of our Young Learner Block. I was able to make these deep connections with my instructors and my classmates, and now I am making those deep connections with my students.
