Traci Adame

Traci Adame plans to make flexibility and understanding key elements in her classroom when she reaches her goal of becoming a junior high school math teacher. Adame believes the combination will equal success for her students, based on her experience as a mother and a math student.

"My son came home with a math problem, and I showed him how to do it like we did it back in the day. He went back to school, and the teacher said that is not how to do it," said Adame. "The teacher said he had to do it a certain way. That perturbed me because not every person can learn in the same way."

As a result of Adame advocating on her son's behalf, the teacher modified the policy. That experience inspired Adame, one of four TCC Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society members recently named Coca-Cola scholars, to change her major to education.

Adame plans to pursue her four-year degree at Texas Christian University because of its ranking and because she likes its focus on equipping teachers to handle individual learning styles.

Her decision to teach also was influenced by the memory of her own difficulties in math classes. "Math didn't come easy to me. I think the idea that I had to struggle will make me a better teacher." 

By Rita L.B. Parson