2020 Alabama Aspiring Teacher Scholarship Winner Wants to Change Lives
Natasha Reasor is dedicated to becoming the kind of teacher who changes students’ lives.
“You never know what someone is going through, and I want a child to come to school and see someone who inspires them and helps them change the path they’re on that may not be right,” Reasor said.
Reasor, of Calera, AL, was recently awarded the Voyager Sopris Learning® 2020 Alabama Aspiring Teacher Scholarship . Reasor, who recently graduated from Calera High School, plans to pursue a degree in education because she believes teachers who inspire and believe in their students are instrumental to helping children believe in themselves. Reasor wants to be the kind of teacher who encourages her students to achieve more than they ever dreamed possible.
“My mom instilled in us the drive to go for what you want,” she shared. “The smaller children in my life, I want them to see me following my dreams and keeping my passion, so I can show them they can do anything, too!”
Reasor’s goal is to become an English teacher, initially working with early childhood and lower elementary students, because she wants to help her students learn to love writing. Her ultimate goal is to become a college professor.
“I really do enjoy writing essays even though it takes me a while,” she said. “I want to work my way up with regards to grades, starting with kindergarten and working my way up to being a college professor.”
Most of all, Reasor wants to have the same impact on all of her students that her favorite teacher had on her. “One of my favorite teachers changed my life in ways I never thought possible, and I want to do the same,” she said. “She taught me so much about believing in myself and never giving up no matter how difficult things become.”
This fall, Reasor joins the freshman class at Jefferson State Community College in Birmingham, AL, taking her first steps toward becoming the kind of teacher who changes lives.
We wish her the best of luck.
The 2020 Aspiring Teacher Scholarship was sponsored by LETRS® (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling), Voyager Sopris Learning’s landmark professional learning series on the science of reading. Alabama uses LETRS as a key part of its statewide literacy initiative to teach educators the science of reading and give them the skills to teach language and literacy to every student, even those with reading challenges like dyslexia.