Tate 1
Autobiography
Professor Eastman
Ashley Tate
March 3, 2009
Abstract
My childhood included many ups and downs. I was constantly trying to figure out who I was, learning from my parents’ mistakes, and just living life. Through those ups and downs, the people I love the most helped me in every way possible. I graduated from Huntington North High School, where I found my true calling. I enjoy reading and traveling, both of which I do a lot. I consider graduating from high school with high honors my greatest victory. I also had disappointments and struggles. I spent lots of time trying to be someone I wasn’t, and I lost two very close friends in a span of two years. As for things I love, I love many things in life, such as History and teaching, which is why I chose this career.
I was born on January 22, 1990, in Huntington, Indiana to my wonderful parents, Richard and Tammy Tate. There was really nothing special about my birth, but my parents had me when they were very young, and didn’t really know what they were doing. As I grew up, life was very difficult. From what I have been told, we were constantly moving from Ft. Wayne, to Andrews, to Huntington, to Missouri, to Florida, to Bippus, where I currently live. For most of that, I was too young to remember, but some things I can still faintly remember. Bippus is where I currently live now, having spent the last nine years living there. When I was born, my parents had some problems, constantly fighting over money and bills. With my dad always working, he was never around to see us grow up. My mom spent as much time as she could with us, but eventually she had to go back to work, so my two sisters and I spent a lot of time with our Papa and Grandma. My Papa and Grandma were divorced many years prior, so we went back and forth.
Although my home life was rough, something positive came out of it. My Grandma was a very passionate Christian and I would often have her pick me up and take me to church with her. I can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t go to church pretty regularly. I have been going so long, that I couldn’t tell you the first time I attended. Well, church became a big part of my life and I learned a lot from my Children’s Church teacher, Jason Boice. Church became my place of refuge and I slowly learned all about God and Jesus. At church, I was happy and surrounded by the Holy Spirit. I accepted Christ as my personal savior many years ago when I was about seven, at an Easter play. From that point on, I knew that God and Jesus really loved me and were always with me, even when the times at home were rough.
Sometimes, not every student has family that supports them, so it is very important for them to have teachers, who they know care and support them. Family has always been a big part of my life. I have learned a lot from each and every one of my closest family members. Besides my parents, I have two younger sisters, Amber and Alyssa. I love all of them so very much. I have learned from many of my parent’s mistakes, but there was one that I really could really relate to. My dad was and still is a very smart man. He had a lot of potential and attended a semester of college over in Spain, before he and my mom were married. After one semester, he quit and came home. The thing was, my dad was going to be a doctor, and eventually that dream died off because he got bored with the daily routine. My mom never attended college, but at one point she had wanted to go to college to train and raise horses. Both my parents had these big and beautiful dreams, but decided to have me instead. I know neither one of my parents regret it, but I learned that no matter how big my dreams are, there is never a reason to give up on them. My parents also taught me to set high standards for myself and those who surround me. With that advice, I have dedicated myself to giving my all in everything I do and to never say never. It has also helped me pick my friends, who are also a big part of my family. Like family, they have always been there for me when I needed them the most. Another big part of my family is my church family; they have lifted me up and reminded me of who my God is. With all this family, I consider myself one of the most blessed people in this world. I may not have all the riches of the world, but I have the riches that matter.
Last May, in 2008, I graduated from Huntington North High School in the top ten percent of my class. Prior to that, I attended Andrews Elementary and Northwest Elementary. In the fourth grade, I moved from Andrews to Northwest, where I finished elementary. From there, I attended Crestview Middle School. In high school I found out exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I didn’t know what area of teaching I wanted to get into, but I knew I wanted to teach. I had been tutoring children since middle school, constantly dedicating my time to helping others learn the subjects they were having trouble in, such as math and other odd classes, but mainly math. When I reached my senior year of high school, I won an award from the Optimist Club, for all my time and dedication to helping others. Also, while in high school I met my favorite teacher, Mike Martynowicz. He taught me to stand up for myself, and he was always there before school, after school, and during school to help and listen to me. He was the kind of teacher I hope that I can be.
Throughout school, I found myself losing time in books and learning about all the different places in the United States. With all the knowledge from reading and traveling, I believe I have a lot to offer my future students.There are many things in life that I enjoy doing. One is reading, which I have been doing way before I even knew how to read. I more than just love to read, I love the books I read. Growing up, books were my escape to places I could go when life was hard. Another way of escape from my life was to just leave. Traveling is another one of my joys in life; my family has been to many places. One big trip we took was the summer before my sixth grade year to California. We drove all the way there, stopping at all the major historical sites we could. I saw Mt. Rushmore, Bad Lands, Grand Canyon, Yellow Stone Park, and more. I saw more culturally diverse people on that one month trip, than I have seen in my whole life.
In today’s society, kids are constantly going through change, not only are they changing, but their circumstances change through disappointments and victories. Some people have many disappointments in their lives, but I believe that is because they chose to look at those times as disappointments. The times people would call disappointments are character builders to me. My grandmother has always taught me to look at those disappointments as something I can learn and grow from; she has always taught me to look at the positive side of things. I look at them as times that God was testing me, to make me a stronger person. Disappointments are rewarding to me, giving me the knowledge to help someone else who could be experiencing those same kinds of disappointments. One time that I consider a disappointment would have been in my seventh grade year of junior high. I was trying out for the volleyball team, in hopes that I might become what they call popular. See, my whole life I tried to be someone I wasn’t. I wanted to be that girl that everybody liked and looked at. There was always that group of girls who stood off to the side, wearing their expensive, name brand clothes, with their hair all pretty looking. My family never really had money to waste on expensive clothes, nor did my mom have time to curl my hair and put it back in pretty shiny clips, but I soon realized that all the fancy clothes and pretty hair wasn’t what life was all about. I learned through that experience or disappointment what was truly important to me.
Many students are finding it harder and harder to get through high school without wanting to give up. Some struggle with the circumstances of their lives as well as with school. So, I hope to help my future students understand that life is hard, but after they have graduated from high school, that life gets better. The biggest thing I am proud of is graduating high school. I loved high school and enjoyed every class I took, especially Psychology, AP Government, and AP History. High school really opened me up, especially when I became the Varsity Softball Manager my junior year. School taught me discipline, responsibility, and most of all how to open up and become more outspoken. Throughout High School, as I opened up, I developed my own opinions and found myself happier. When I graduated high school, I was in the top ten percent of my class, graduating with Academic Honors. I was a Freshman Mentor, and joined Student Council and Class Council. I also was a part of Peer Tutoring and in choir my freshman year. I loved school and became a well rounded person throughout my four years of high school.
In life, people go through struggles every day. I have been through a lot in my lifetime, but I found that it makes me a stronger person. The two biggest struggles in my life dealt with the loss of two very special people. The first person I lost was in my junior year of high school. In February of my junior year, my Children’s Church teacher past away from a very rare form of cancer. He was only thirty-two and one of my best friends. I knew he was sick, but I never expected him to die. I remember crying for nights, missing his hugs and great words of wisdom. Still to this day, he lives in my heart and always will. He was my inspiration to become a Sunday school teacher, so that I could plant the seeds of God and watch them grow, just like he did. Then in my senior year of High School, the next door neighbor boy, who I grew up living beside for eight years, committed suicide at the age of sixteen. It was so hard for me to understand why he would want to do something like that, but I realized that every person has their own struggles and his just got too hard for him to handle. Going to school that next week was so hard; every time I saw a boy with curly blonde hair, I couldn’t help but take a second look. Still to this day, I look out my window, waiting for him to yell up at me to come out and play a game of Jail Break. I know that everyone loses someone close to them at least once in their life, and I learned mine sooner than I wanted to. I lost two people who I was close to, at such young ages. These losses made me stronger in the way that I can help others who lose someone close to them. I know that both of them were saved, therefore it made it a little easier to let go, because I knew they were in a better place. I still find myself from time to time thinking of how much I miss them, but I will always miss them. I just thank God that I got to know them for as long as I did.
I believe each student should have something that they love or are passionate about, because the things I have grown to love or become passionate about have taught me much about myself. I have many things I like or in other words love. I love Shakespeare, exercising, teaching, and going to church. Shakespeare has always been a favorite since Romeo and Juliet in English. Then, we read Hamlet, which was even better. I really started exercising my sophomore year of high school, when I took Aerobics. Aerobics really boosted myself esteem and confidence. I obviously love to teach, everything from about God, to Math, to History, to Psychology. If someone asks me for help in an area that I do well, I will put time forth to learn it so that I can help them understand it. The last thing I mentioned was how much I love to go to church. I have attended New Life Fellowship, in Huntington since it started up. If I didn’t have church or Christ, I would be so lost and overwhelmed with the everyday struggles in life. I don’t really have any dislikes, except for people who don’t have opinions. I believe that if you are going to do anything worthwhile in life, you need to have an opinion or stances on something. Without opinions, life would be boring and people would pretty much be the same.
Currently, I attend Manchester College, having started my freshman year this past fall. I am a Secondary Education Social Studies Major, hoping to make history interesting to high school students. I am a commuter, who spends lots of time in the library. I live at home with my parents, helping my mom run our family business and helping take care of my dad, who became disabled in a roofing accident nine years ago. Manchester is a beautiful college and I love the one on one interaction with teachers that you can get at Manchester College. So far, I love college and hope to learn as much as I can before I graduate.
Every life has disappointments, struggles, and victories, but mine are unique in the way that I know they will be able to help someone out there. I want to be able to help the students learn and understand how sometimes life is hard, and yet it always seems to work out, if they just don’t give up. Life is all about how you look at it. If you look at it like it sucks and you’re going nowhere, you won’t achieve much, but if you look at life like, okay I am going to pull through, you’re going to have learned from your mistakes and disappointments and make them something positive. I have gone through a lot in my life, and sometimes I wanted to give up, but God has always pulled me through. Life is like a learning process of trial and error, and if students know that the issues they are going through have happened to someone else, like their teacher, maybe I can make their life a little easier.