Student Spotlight: Meet Alex Edwards, who wants to teach math in her hometown
(Posted on Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2021)
Alex Edwards is a junior at Austin Peay State University. After her graduation in spring 2023, she plans to return to her home county of Dickson, Tennessee, to teach secondary mathematics and coach softball at Creek Wood High School on a three-year contract.
She initially decided to attend Austin Peay because the campus is close to her home, and the majority of her math teachers at Creek Wood High School were alumni who also went to Austin Peay for their mathematics education degrees.
鈥淚 continue to choose Austin Peay every single day because these people have become my second family.鈥
From an early age, Alex realized her love for mathematics.
鈥淎s I grew as a student, I realized my passion was to be a math teacher and coach like the ones that I loved so much as a student,鈥 she said. 鈥淢ath is not like anything else students learn in school, and it takes someone with a heart for the material, like I have, to instill the proper learning of the material to students. The funds provided to me by the Landrum Family will ensure that I can follow my dreams of becoming a teacher and coach who inspires students and players just like me to want to change the world like my teachers and coaches have in the past.鈥
Alex says that in the past year, Austin Peay has truly become her home.
鈥淭hanks to the Governor community, the STEM program and my football team, I have found my place, and I am confident I am right where God intended me to be,鈥 Alex said. 鈥淚 am blessed to be able to use this scholarship to continue to live at school and pursue my degree.鈥
Hometown: Dickson, Tennessee
Major: mathematics education
Scholarship: Landrum Mathematics Scholarship; Shirley Hagewood Endowed Math Scholarship
Extracurricular: Student equipment manager for the Governor鈥檚 football team, campus outreach coordinator for Delight (a women鈥檚 college ministry), secretary of the Galois Math Club, CoSTEM Advisory Board member, STEM Scholars Program mentor, National Society of Leadership and Success member, Golden Key International Honor Society member, and Phi Mu Epsilon member.
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