Hey there! My name is Ashton Cress. I am a History Education major, here at Appalachian State University. Ever since I was a child, I watched the educators of my family impact those around me and I have always felt a "calling," if you will, to do the same. However, as I got older I got into the idea of going into the medical field. All throughout high school, I completed course after course to get further into the idea of being a pediatric dentist. Entering college (I cried when I got my acceptance to App State), I became a chemistry major to continue my pursuit of becoming a dentist but there was one thing wrong... I. hate. chemistry.

      After a series of back and forth of what to do, and constantly stressing about my future if I hated the major to get into the program I needed, I called my grandmother. Now, Anita Peters was an elementary music school teacher who lives in a town where the population, at best, is 3000 people. Everyone knows her, and she knows everyone... and she teaches everyone's children. I have seen my grandmother impact so many lives and would watch her put ornaments on her Christmas tree from all of her students in the past. I realized I wanted that. Not the gifts. I wanted to make an impact on people and on their children. And she encouraged me over a two-hour phone call through telling me about all of her stories, the good, the bad, and the ugly, that I should be a teacher.

      So here I am, at Appalachian State University... the original, North Carolina teaching college. There was a plan, whether I knew it or not, and I now know, I am where I should be.