“I knew that there was just something about English that I could help everyone else with,” said Ms. Jasmine McSparren, part of the AA’s new fellowship program. Her teacher advisor is Ms. Peterson. She has a bright and fun personality which can be seen through her different hair colors; she recently went from pink to blue. She didn’t always want to teach. For a brief period of her life she wanted to be a mortician! It was after joining a group to help illiterate adults take their SATs and GEDs in order to get jobs, that she realized she wanted to pursue teaching as her career. Before the Academy, she worked with a different fellowship program at UNM. Ms.McSparren has become well-liked teacher in her short time here so far. Even when following a premade curriculum, Ms. Peterson said “We’re sort of working closely together. But she kind of does things in her own way and what draws on her own interests and her own special areas of knowledge and expertise.” The reason she chose the Academy was because she wanted to attend AA when she was younger, yet the option wasn’t available to her. She wanted a chance to see what the experience was like. Even though her stay at Academy is short, she will be an even better teacher under the mentorship of Ms.Peterson and will be ready to pursue teaching as her career.