1 Katoush

Mahasen Katoush

Jan 14, 2018

Growing up as a child, finishing my education was a dream I always wanted to achieve.

After I finished high school, I got married, and I had my five children; in my culture, it is tough

to complete my education with all these family members, after twelve years of marriage, I got

my divorce, and I started thinking about ending my school to be a role model for my children. As

a single mom, I started my journey in education at Kauai Community College in 2013, managing

a house and five children by myself is hard and needs a lot of effort and determination to succeed

through all the barriers that we see every day. It took me three years to get my associate degree,

but finally, I got it. My graduation day was a day to remember for the rest of my life; I attended

the graduation ceremony to give my kids a lesson and a lecture that if you work hard enough,

you will reach your dreams. However, I took a one year break after my AA degree to prepare

myself for the most significant decision of my life, which is to move out of the island of Kauai to

the island of Oahu to finish my dream, and for the sake of my kids’ education, since they will

have more opportunities in Oahu than Kauai.

As I am writing this essay, three of my children are attending colleges in Oahu, one of them is

planning to become a Doctor. He is attending UH Manoa, the second child is finishing up his

Automotive major and is attending leeward community college, and the third child is attending

Kapiolani community college for the hospitality and tourism program. I also enjoy teaching

young children at my local mosque, where they learn how to read and write the Arabic language,

it is an enjoyable experience that gives me an idea of what I am going to deal with in the future.

Therefore, education is essential to me and teaching is my dream. I think that teachers

should establish a good foundation for young children to rely on in their future classes.
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Furthermore, being a good teacher that gives a 100% effort to their job will make the new

generation of students thrive and be productive people in our society. Consequently, I was

thinking about teaching high school students, but I changed my mind because young children are

more relevant and easier to deal with than high schoolers. Young children are like a blank piece

of paper; I can fill it up with all the good and rich information they need to learn and succeed in

the future.

By applying to UH Manoa, I realize that my dream is almost coming true, and hopefully, it will

not be too long to finish and start using my theories of teaching to these precious children who

need me the most. One day, these children might become good leaders in the future where people

can depend on them for significant decisions, and together we can build a bright future worthy to

our country. Ensuring a bright future for our children is a responsibility of our community, the

schools, families, and finally, teachers who families count on to do an excellent job in teaching

their children the things they need to be good leaders in the future.