Let Me Introduce Myself—2013

Hello, my name is Katharine Otolski. I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, my family and I lived in Southern Indiana until we moved to Indianapolis, Indiana when I was four years old. I attended St. Matthew Catholic School, from kindergarten until eighth grade. After St. Matthew, I went on to attend Bishop Chatard Catholic High School. I am currently attending Ball State University. I knew that I wanted to attend Ball State, since my sophomore year of high school, after I attended the Ball State Summer Scholars Program in 2010. It was an amazing experience; I knew I just had to go to school here. I quickly decided that I wanted to major in Special Education minor interventions, and minor in Geology (Yes, I know very random).

A huge reason why I decided to focus on mild interventions was that I really wanted to help student with ADHD and dyslexia. This was because I have ADHD and dyslexia; school was always a struggle for me. However, I received amazing help from the resource teachers, while I was in school. As a teacher, I want to help students who are struggling in school. I want all students to love school; I want students to be passionate about school. I never want a student to say, ‘I cannot do this,’ I believe if a student puts their mind to something, nothing should get in their way. I never wanted to giver up, I set high expectation for myself, and I never wanted to let myself down. I wanted to prove that just because a student has a disability it does not mean that it defines you.

I have a fantastic support system made up of teachers, friends, but most importantly my family. My father Greg and my mother Karen, both majored in journalism in college. Unlike my parents, reading and writing were always a challenge with dyslexia, adding ADHD, made it difficult to sit still long enough to give it all my attention. However, they kept pushing and supporting me, never letting me give up. At St. Matthew, there was a team of four Special Ed. teachers, who taught me so many tricks. Such as flash cards, audiobooks, spelling games and so much more, that eventually it clicked. Reading and writing became easier and I started liking school again.

Two other people who helped me whether they realized it or not, were my brother Nathan who is 17 and my sister Claire who is 11. Not only did I want to set a good example for them, but also I wanted to be a good example for them, in everything. Nathan and I are so close in age; we even had some of the same classes in high school. Nathan was and still is the person who pushes me to do better it is a brother sister completion thing (whether he knows it or not). Claire and I have a 7-year age gap. Since our parents both work, I was able to pick Claire up from school; I was able to expand my teaching experience while I would help her with homework.

Receiving positive feedback after helping someone who is struggling is a great experience. You are able to take a topic and break it down in a way that someone else understands. Out of all of the feedback I have received, one that I have always kept with me was, “have you ever thought about becoming a teacher, you would be a great teacher.” Hearing that is what motivates me, I know that I am in the correct field. I went from being a student who did not understand words on a page in a book to helping others, to deciding that I wanted to become a teacher.