Robert Noyce Scholarship Program

Meet Noyce Scholar Sachi Lopez

Grew up in: Honolulu, Hawaii

Currently Pursuing: BA in Mathematics with Secondary Certification

Pursuing Certification in: Mathematics

Intended level of teaching: High school, but I am open to middle school.

What teacher or professor has been most influential in your life? 
I have had many influential teachers in my life, so it is hard to choose just one. Since I have to pick one, I will go with the most recent teacher who has impacted my life—Mrs. Irvin. She is a teacher I have been working with at the Secondary Bilingual Orientation Center, a Seattle Public School serving immigrants aged 10-21.

She entrusted me with many responsibilities while in her classroom, and through these teaching experiences, my passion and ability to teach has grown significantly. She also was the first Christian teacher that I have worked with, and the integration of her faith into her classroom has been an exemplary example of how to integrate my own faith into my future classroom—through the simple act of praying for each and every one of her students, through asking God for wisdom, and through the offering of her classroom into God's hands.

Tell us a bit about your decision to pursue a career in math education?

My decision to teach has developed throughout my years at Seattle Pacific University. While at SPU I have been able to get involved with many schools in the Seattle district, and with each experience my passion to teach has increased. Every time I was able to help students come to the realization that mathematics is not a foreign language to them and that they are actually able to understand it, I was assured that I was going to be a math educator.

I have also been exposed to the inequalities in the education system in America, and I am passionate about doing my part to end educational inequality. It has become one of the missions in my life. 

So why mathematics? I choose mathematics because I love the subject. Mathematics has always been my comfort subject in the academic world. Thanks to some great teachers in my past, I have been able to succeed in my study of mathematics. My ability in math gave me the confidence to succeed in all other academic subjects that I did not easily understand. Therefore, mathematics carried me through the education system, and I want to provide my future students with the same opportunity.

Why Seattle Pacific University?

I chose Seattle Pacific University because it was not on the little islands of Hawaii! Because I grew up on an island my whole life, I caught island fever and needed a change. So I decided to go to a college in the continental US, and choose SPU for many reasons. One was because I have family in the area, and I love family and did not want to lose the special support that family provides.

Secondly, SPU provided me with great financial support, and thirdly, because I was moved by SPU's mission statement [to Engage the Culture, Change the World]. I loved that SPU was a Christian university with such a global perspective and mission. I was inspired by SPU's mission and wanted the university to mold me into the character that the mission statement described.

What has been your greatest challenge this past year?
My greatest challenge has been balance. I am the type of person who throws themselves into whatever they are doing, and in these past years my focus has been school. This practice is effective in accomplishing my academic goals, but extremely detrimental to all other aspects of my life—my faith, my family and friends. Therefore, my struggle has been my aim to keep all important aspect of my life in check, keeping my focus and efforts on all of them.

What are you most excited to be offering to your students?
I am excited to offer my students hope. I am an optimist and a very determined person, who believes that every student is capable of doing well in mathematics. I want to bring every one of my future students to the realization that they have the ability to understand and do well in mathematics. I specifically want to reach out to student who have given up in mathematics, and bring them hope in their mathematical abilities, hope in their abilities as a student, and more importantly hope and faith in themselves.   

Any experiences are you currently looking forward to in this coming year?
I am extremely excited for student teaching in the winter and spring of 2009! I will be working at Garfield High school with a teacher that I completely resonate with, and with a math program that I completely support. I am excited to be able to apply everything I have been learning these past years, and finally begin teaching!

Anything you would say to someone considering applying for a Noyce scholarship?
Apply! If you have a passion for teaching science and mathematics to students in the public school districts then apply!