I am Kassidy Keefer and I was born here in Carthage New York on a 400 cow dairy farm. But when my parents first found out they were pregnant my grandma was so excited hoping it was a girl, because my parents didn’t find out what they were having and my uncle had 3 boys. My mom had picked one girl name Gracie and one boy name Kaleb. My dad didn’t want to pick a name until the baby was born because he wanted to see what baby looked like. When my mom had me, my dad said I didn’t look like a Gracie. So my parents went through baby books and still couldn’t decide on a name. My mom was in the hospital for 5 days and they still couldn’t agree on a name. I was baby Keefer, they went through magazines, books, tv shows and my dad went home and looked through old baby books. Then my mom went through a magazine and saw Cassidy and my dad said he liked it but with a K. Plus when my mom was growing up she loved the partridge family with Dave Cassidy and his brother Sean. Then they had to decide on a middle name. My cousin Ashley was there and said, “Marie please, because that’s my middle name.” My parents liked it because it went with Kassidy. As I grew up, I was the youngest of the grandchildren and the only child so needless to say I was the spoiled one. I grew up going to Carthage kindergarten to junior year. Since I was little I always said I wanted to be a teacher, but I had teachers in elementary school tell me I was to dumb and would never be able too. So since I was about 7 years old I had no confidence in myself, I always second guessed myself with everything I did. Until the day I met my sixth grade reading teacher. Mrs. Craig is the reason I changed my mind and realized I can be a teacher no matter what anyone says. She is a motivator always pushing but in a good way. She always told me to follow my heart and do what you love to do. She taught me to be myself, be kind-hearted, to love what I do, and push myself through all the struggles. Mrs. Craig is the reason I chose my career to be a teacher. I want to be an impact on a student’s life like she was to mine.