Still young at 29 but old enough to have gained invaluable professional experience, I feel strongly that this is the optimal moment for me to pursue my education at the graduate level. Born and raised in Puerto Rico and currently living in Florida, I am someone who celebrates multicultural diversity as well as diversity in education. The Ph.D. Program in Curriculum and Instruction in Teaching Physical Education at XXX University is my first choice since I have the very highest esteem for your program, faculty, its mission and ideals. A member of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAPHERD) since 2007, I also played college basketball in the Division 2 of the NCAA. Perhaps the most important credential that I have, however, as a candidate to your program, is the fact that I have already earned a Master's Degree in my field, Teaching Physical Education.
Teaching is a big passion in my life, along with sports, and I look forward to a long and productive career as an educator, in order to help future teachers and programs positively impact the lives of students in healthy ways that make the most of their physical as well as psychological potential. I fully understand the importance of educating people to be physically active in a fun way. I am looking forward to being part of a new generation of instructors that will work for constant improvement in the quality of Physical Education teachers and programs. Very much a team player, I have always strived for unity, uniformity, and purpose in physical education and school sports. In the future, I hope to be able to make contributions to my field in the form of more effective assessment measurements and techniques, through the creation of new and improved standards of quality physical education for people from all races and walks of life. In my experience as a teacher in PR, we have suffered from a lack of necessary equipment, resources, and adequate facilities. Now, I very much look forward to taking part in a program such as yours with such state-of-the-art resources, being able to use all the tools that I have been taught to contribute and improve the quality of programs wherever I end up.
I am especially interested in doing graduate work in the area of teaching and curriculum development by identifying the principal factors that enhance the learning environment in physical education. My long term goal is to become a professor for a very high quality program and it is my hope to have the privilege to spend many decades laboring to contribute through research about physical education standards and challenges, writing books and professional journal articles, helping to bring higher levels of consistency in quality to my profession. Completely bi-lingual as well as bi-cultural, I hope to be able to prove myself to be especially effective with today's highly diverse student populations, and to encourage all to profit from healthy lifestyles as well as a full a level of participation in school sports programs. In Puerto Rico, I was a Physical Education Teacher at XXX Academy. I am also a Certified Personal Trainer and I have professional experience working for an inner city program called Zone Press Program as a basketball coach and counselor. The main focus of this program is to address the needs of at-risk youth by providing counseling and sport activities as constructive ways for them to develop self esteem and healthy peer relations. It is also called midnight basketball because that is the hour of the night when the games are played.
A hands-on person, what I love most is to be in the field looking for ways to improve the teaching process in physical education and how to best go about discerning and addressing the many needs that students have at this critical stage in their lives, exploring the multitude of social and psychological factors that often play themselves out in the context of student sports activities. Especially fond of new inventions and their usefulness, I am adept at the utilization of technology and look forward to continuing to stay very current with respect to new developments in sports and fitness technology such as with Heart Rate monitors, pedometers and all opportunities that result from the Internet. Self-motivated but also very much a team player, I am flexible and able to maintain high levels of energy while working alone or as part of a team. I also function well in a high-pressure atmosphere, adapting easily to new concepts and responsibilities. I have very highly developed interpersonal skills, and I especially enjoy interacting with and teaching students from all different levels of society. Looking forward to a lifetime of making positive contributions to the mental and physical health of our society by instructing future physical educators--helping to make our world a healthier, more harmonious, and more enjoyable place to live: I want to thank you for your attention to my application.