A little bit about Faith Hoyt
I was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado at the United States Air Force Academy. When I was 2 years old, we moved to Goergia where my younger sister, Grace, was born. We have lived in the state of Georgia ever since. My sister is on a volleyball scholarship at Kennesaw State University and will be starting her second year.
I graduated from the University of Georgia this past may with an undergraduate degree in Mathematics Education. I am currently working on my masters of mathematics education at UGA and hope to finish that in the next five summers. While at UGA as an undergrad I was involved in a campus ministry called Wesley where I was involved in the mentoring program they have for some of the local youth. I was also a member of Gamma Sigma Sigma, which is a service sorority. I also got to serve as service vice president for a year. I also did some work with Make A Wish Foundation and Relay for Life.
The past two summers I have had the priviledge and honor to go to Tanzania, Africa for a week on a mission trip. Last year our focus was a local school called PUNCHMI that is located in Karanse, Tanzania. While we were there we got to work with the teachers one on one as well as work in their classes beside them. As I was studying to be a math teacher, I got to work with a few teachers on math. We actually introduced work problems to some of the older students. In Tanzania the passing mark for math is a 20%. This means that 80% of the material, the students are not understanding. If you think about it, if a student only gets 20% of their first year in school, then they will be missing 80% of that information, and the trend will continue until they graduate for secondary school. In tanzania, if you do not pass an exit exam, you cannot go on to the next grade (or in this case secondary school). Thus, math is a major crutch for that contry right now. It was a special time for me to be able to work with the teachers and give them some pointers on how to reach their students better or present it in different ways. While we were there we also had time in the mornings to interact with some of the younger students. These kids stole my heart. I feel in love with the children (or in swahili they are called watoto) and don't think I will ever get that part of my heart back.
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This year was a bit of a different trip. Rather than working at the school, we got to work side by side with some of the widows from the community. In four homes we planted a garden and some trees. In two other homes we actually built a goat pen. In most of these houses, the family is living inside a small hut along with their farm animals (in most cases cows, goats, and pigs). Thus, it was really important for us to build them a pen so their animals could be housed outside. Although this was very different from what we did the previous year and HARD work, it was an experience I will never forget. I also learned on this trip that my passion is for the children and the teachers in that area. I am hoping to get to spend the summer there next year and work more one on one with the teachers.
This fall I will be teaching math at Oconee County High School. I am going to teach Math 1, Math Money Management, and Algebra 2. I am really excited to finally get to be a teacher and to be in the "real world," using what I have been studying for the past four years. I will also be coaching the JV girls basketball team and cannot wait to get involved with that. One of the main reasons for me to become a teacher was so I would be able to coach. I played basketball for 10 years and was on varsity for 3 years in high school. There are a lot of things that I learned over the years of what not to do and what to do in coaching, and I cannot wait to be able to implement them.