Professional Statement

My name is Courtney Michell Farmer and I am from Hampton, Virginia. I am a junior at Elizabeth City State University (ECSU), located in Elizabeth City, NC. My major is Mathematics with a minor in Education.

Growing up, my grandmother constantly emphasized the importance of education in my future. She told me that it would be important to my success and that I should never to let anyone take that away me. In high school, mathematics became my favorite subject. Math became my favorite subject, because when you look around in today's world its all over. From telling time, adding money, making sure you get back the right change, in careers like engineering, architect, teaching and so much more.

Completing high school became a challenge for me when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. From me going to cosmetology school in the mornings to high school during the mid-day, to working in the afternoon, then coming home to help out with my mom, and do my school work, it was a hard struggle. But, I managed to get through it all. Yet even through what I found to be a terrible hardship, my parents pushed me to finish school and fulfill my dreams of being a math teacher. In addition to my parents support, my math teacher, Mrs. Hardy, was very supportive of my future ambitions. She motivated me to be all I could be in high school, because she knew it would pay off later on in life. Though I was not her biological child, Mrs. Hardy took me under her wing like I was one of hers. She became a positive role model for me and inspired me to achieve my dreams.

Out of a family of four siblings, I am the first one to graduate from high school and to attend college. My main goal is for me to be preparing to do everything I need to do to achieve my master in Mathematics, and later achieve a doctorate degree.

I am majoring in mathematics with a minor in education. This is the best major for me because I know I can make a difference in students, while helping them as my teacher helped me. Currently as a rising junior, The Center Of Excellence in Remote Sensing Education and Research Program (CERSER) is helping me prepare and become a more rounded person from a professional standpoint. As of now, I have been apart of three research experiences and projects. This past school year the project was entitled “The Impact of 2006-2012 CReSIS Summer Research Programs that Influence Student's Choice of a STEM Related Major in College”. This project research examined the role of practical research experience during the summer year of 2006-2012 for talented minority secondary students studying in STEM fields. This summer I had the opportunity to take part in two research experiences. The first was entitled, “Analyzing Factors that Influence Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda) at Elizabeth City State University”. This project dealed with extracted tree cores from the loblolly pines across the campus of Elizabeth City State University and compared the correlation of diameter at base height (DBH) and tree age. Currently I am working on is entitled “TeraScan Curriculum Development and Integration of SeaSpace Technology into the Classroom”. This research is dealing with creating a training curriculum that focused on the K-12 classroom, along with college course, and outside governmental agencies.

After graduating from Elizabeth City State University with
a bachelor's degree in Mathematics, I would like to give back to my community and teach in my hometown of Hampton, Virginia. I have always, and will continue to dream big and work hard to achieve my goals of graduating from ECSU with my degree and using it to the best of my ability. As an educator, my main goal is to make students, from all life circumstances and in every community, attain the potential to thrive, grow, and learn in their future undertakings. I hope to be a role model and change students from going down the wrong path and aim to make math, a normally unpopular subject, appealing to all youth. I feel that education is the most valuable and precious thing that one can want.