About Me My name is Luis Batista and I am currently a junior at Old Dominion University. I'm majoring in History Education with the hopes that one day I could start off teaching at a high school and eventually move on to a university. I'm a military brat so I lived all up and down the east coast, as well as overseas. So far I have lived in Florida, New York, Georgia, Puerto Rico, Italy, and moved four times in Virginia. If I had to call any of these places home, it would be New York. It home to a place I grew up in and also to my favorite team, the Mets. I'm a huge baseball fan even when my team isn't doing too hot (which is most of the time).

The one place I would have to visit before I die is Italy. I don't really remember much from when I lived there, but there is so much history, art, culture and beautiful architecture too be seen and remembered. The rich history of Rome, the beautiful landscape of Tuscany, the sophistication of the Vatican, the unique sinking city of Venice.

My Educational Philosophy To be honest, I never really desired to be a teacher. I was actually majoring in criminal justice until a year ago, but it was a professor of mine that inspired me to teach. It wasn't anything he said, but more of what he did and what he believed. He didn't believe in the old formal education to which I dreaded and was so accustomed to. There was this freedom of informing his students on what he had learned in his life, but never forcing it upon them. The public education system today is mostly devoted to measuring each individual student to a standardized test. The test don't test ones capability to learn, but their capability to memorize and regurgitate. It's impossible to change the world, but it is possible to put a dent in it. I want to teach and inspire the same way my professor inspired me. Whether it be an inspiration to finish school, travel the world, or teach others one day, it does not matter. I have a long way to go before I obtain the title of "professor", but in time I hope I can inspire through my actions as well as my words.