Noyce Scholar Profile
Erin Bremer
Undergraduate major or graduate field of study: Mathematics
Subject area(s) and grade level teaching focus: Math 8-12
Category of scholarship/fellowship:
Noyce Scholar
Name of Noyce institution:
Stephen F. Austin State University/ T4 - Talented Teachers in Training for Texas
Current academic or teaching status:
junior
School and school district:
N/A
Background:
I grew up in Houston Texas and graduated from Clear Lake High School in 2008. My dad was a high school science teacher before I was born and my tutor for just about everything when I was in high school. After I graduated, I went to community college and worked before I transferred to Stephen F. Austin State University where I currently attend. I am a junior planning to graduate in December of 2014 with a degree in mathematics and a certification to teach in secondary education.
Why do you want to teach:
I have always enjoyed math, even when I struggled with it in high school. It was something I was willing to struggle with because it intrigued me. I have wanted to be a teacher since I was in Kindergarten but doubted my career choice as I got closer to graduating high school. In community college and my first years at SFA I wavered between the college of business and a career in dental hygiene before I finally settled back into education. I realized I really want to teach. I am capable of being successful at many different careers but I feel that in teaching is where I will be challenged to keep growing and learning for the rest of my life.
Describe a memorable teaching experience:
I remember a day when I was in Kindergarten, as our classes stood out on the deck to say the pledge of allegiance in the morning. I accidentally dropped my favorite bracelet between the boards under my feet. After the pledge and Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” was over, my teacher Mrs. Bickley ran inside and came back out with yard stick and some sticky tack. As I kept my eye on the bracelet so it didn’t get lost in the dirt, she quickly engineered a way to retrieve it. At that moment, as we crouched over the crack in the deck, I became more fascinated with how inventive she was and how much she cared about me. We got my bracelet out and that memory sticks with me to this day. I believe now, that was maybe the first of many moments that inspired me to do math because it was a situation that required problem solving. Also, if I could trace my career decision back to a single defining moment in my life, this was it! Ever since that day, and as cheesy as it may sound, I have seen teaching as a career in loving people.
What does the Noyce program mean to you:
The Noyce Program has provided me with the comfort of knowing I will have extra support from my mentors for my first three years of teaching when I graduate. It has also provided for me financially so that I do not have stop and work in order to pay for my education, which is what I would do without the scholarship. The T4 program has also provided a community for me to grow in with my peers. Hopefully the relationships that we are building in this program will continue as we enter our careers together.
