Welcome

Hi! My name is Jennifer Santiago. I prefer to be called Jenny, but Jennifer is alright. Many people also call me Jen, and in rare cases Nifer. Get it? I really don't care. I am from a suburb of Chicago called Hanover Park. Sometimes I tell people I am from Carol Stream because I live near the border of Carol Stream and Hanover Park. In fact, my high school was in Carol Stream. So, if you've heard of either town, that is where I'm from. Why am I here? I am at the University of Illinois because I was destined to go here. Many of my "cousins" who are really friends of the family went to this school. Most of them are significantly older than me, but somehow they influenced me to go here with out literally saying "Go to U of I." Maybe its the orange and blue that influenced me. I am here to study Math - secondary ed, and hopefully I'm heading to become a math teacher. I never thought about becoming a teacher until my senior year of high school. I never knew what I wanted to do with my life. Many people tried to convince me to become a nurse because every Filipino is a nurse. I considered nursing for a while until my mom asked me, "Is that really what you want to do? You're good at math, maybe you can do something with that." I thought about, and I realized I love math. (At least, high school math.) And I enjoyed tutoring math. So hopefully I'm on the path to become a high school math teacher. I also hope to get married someday, have kids (not now), and have a decent salary so I can enjoy my retirement.