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My name is Hannah Rieder and I am from Longmont, Colorado. I have wanted to be a teacher since elementary school. I remember “playing school” with my sisters and friends all the time. I didn’t know that I wanted to specialize in math until high school, but after taking many math classes from both wonderful and not so wonderful teachers, I knew that I wanted to be like one of the wonderful teachers who inspired me. More than that though, I wanted to make math engaging and accessible to as many students as I could.

When junior year came and I had to start thinking about college, I knew that I wanted to stay in Colorado. When I first started looking into ��ƷSM����ӰƬ, I wasn’t sure it was the right atmosphere for me, and I was worried about being able to find a community. As I began to explore what ��ƷSM����ӰƬ had to offer, I found that it possessed a lot of qualities I was looking for in my college experience. First, it has a great marching band which was important to me. Second, I was interested by what the School of Education and Mathematics Department in the College of Arts and Sciences had to offer. What really drew me to the School of Education was the courses I would be able to take before actually applying to the school. You need to have a certain number of credits to apply for the School of Education so I applied spring of my freshman year. During that year though, I was able to take two education classes, both of which allowed me to actually work in elementary and middle school math and science classrooms as a freshman. These experiences were valuable because they confirmed my desire to work in education. The Math Department satisfied what I was looking for in my math degree and math education track, and I am able to take a large amount of high level classes that challenge me and improve my math skills and my problem-solving skills. These qualities of ��ƷSM����ӰƬ gave me confidence that I would be able to find a community within the university.

Now, I am a junior with two semesters of classes and one semester of student teaching left until I graduate. I added a minor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. I am studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark this summer where I will be taking a class about children with special needs and two amazing biology classes about glaciers and the Arctic. I have been in marching band and the basketball pep band since freshman year, joined Student Ambassadors, the Annex (a student ministry), Kappa Kappa Psi (the National Honorary Band Fraternity), and I am working two jobs. I have had opportunities to travel with the marching and basketball band to Washington, California, Texas, and Nevada. The marching band has blessed me with a second family that I could not picture my college career without. Student Ambassadors, the Annex, my coworkers and my classmates have all provided me with loving and welcoming environments that have given me a college experience that I have thrived in and love.

~ Hannah Rieder

Mathematics and Teacher Licensure Student, 2019