BioSketch

Hi! My name is Caitlin Zook. I am currently attending Ohio Northern University where I am studying Mathematics with a concentration in Secondary Education. I have lived in Urbana, Ohio my entire life. My parents are Jeff and Carole Zook, and I have a younger brother. My mom is a nurse at the Springfield Regional Medical Center and my dad drives trucks for Noreast Transport. My brother, Adam is two years younger than me and is currently a senior in high school. I went to Graham High School ([]) from kindergarten through all of high school, and I graduated from there in 2009 as the Valedictorian of my class. I was involved in a lot of activities there including National Honor Society, Students Making a Difference, 4-H, track, and soccer. I especially enjoyed my time on the soccer team and my soccer coach always showed a lot of faith in us as a team and in me as an individual. When choosing a college, as soon as I looked at Ohio Northern []) I knew it was where I wanted to go. I loved the campus and the beautiful tundra. I especially liked that it was a small university where I could get to know my professors and where they would have time for me individually as a student. I try to stay very active and I’m involved in many organizations on campus, including Women’s Club Soccer, the Mathematics Association of America, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and the Secondary Education Society.

Since I was little, I have always wanted to be a teacher and my favorite subject was math, so math teacher it was. In high school, I had a couple of teachers that I loved. Mrs. Sidders always had a positive attitude and was excited about each day. She always said that our mood was what we made it. Also, Mr. Apwisch soon became one of my favorite teachers. He gained the respect of his students, and he showed them respect in return. He always inquired about what the students were involved in outside school whether it was sports, dancing, or music. My goal as a teacher is to help students become lifelong learners, and hopefully get excited about math along the way. I hope to have that same enthusiasm for my subject and respect from my students in order to influence them like my teachers influenced me.