Noyce Scholar Profile
Katherine Wallace
Undergraduate major or graduate field of study: Mathematics
Subject area(s) and grade level teaching focus: Mathematics, grades 6-12
Category of scholarship/fellowship:
Noyce Scholar
Name of Noyce institution:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Current academic or teaching status:
Junior
School and school district:
Blacksburg Middle School
Background:
I am from Cleveland, VA and a graduate of Lebanon High School. I obtained an Associate of Arts and Sciences degree with a concentration in Science from Southwest Virginia Community College. I am a member of Cleveland Baptist Church, and am currently active in Christ’s Church at Virginia Tech.
Why do you want to teach:
I want to be able to inspire children in the classroom to go out and accomplish awesome things with their lives. Each student is a unique individual who has a precious life, and I want to help and to see them make the most of it.
Describe a memorable teaching experience:
I once tutored a student who was having trouble in 5th grade math. I have found, throughout my tutoring experiences, that some students work well in a desk, thinking through a math problem and arriving at a conclusion, and they tend to get better as they work more problems in a similar fashion. However, some students, such as this young man, need to see the math happening. In one particular tutoring session, the student and I were learning about perimeter. Instead of finding perimeters of triangles and squares on paper, we went searching for real objects to find the perimeter of (we measured the perimeter of the yard around the house!). It is math experiences like these, guiding students to search for information, gather it, and apply it to real situations, that stands out in my mind because learning becomes real.
What does the Noyce program mean to you:
Scholarship completely aside, the Noyce program is providing a way for me to return home to serve my community. I have lived in Russell County (defined as a high-needs area by Virginia Teach) for my entire life, and I hope to return to it, or to the surrounding counties, to teach mathematics. My home community is very dear to me, and there are many low-income families and students in our community and schools. I wish to help these students help themselves, and hopefully inspire many to rise above their circumstances. Through the Noyce Scholarship, I have the opportunity to return to my own area to teach.
