Jessica Leichter Story - Intrinsic Motivation

Jessica Leichter: I've lived in Shawnee my whole life. Basically I had the perfect childhood, I'm not gonna lie. I lived walking distance to my elementary school, for my middle school, and my high school. I live right near a park. We have the Johnson County bubble stereotype. They call it the Orange County of the Midwest for a good reason. My elementary school it was probably 99% white, very affluent upper-middle class. That's just what I've grown up in. School meant the world to me. I loved everything about school. I was that total dweeb that like loved it so much if my mom told me that the cousins are coming over I would immediately start working on a lesson plan.

Kim Leichter, Jessica's mother: And every child that came into our house was required to do a little homework.

Jessica Leichter: And I'd like type up things on the computer and like make worksheets and I'd pull out my white board.

James Leichter, Jessica's father: She was born to be a teacher, she'll be an awesome teacher. She just has everything a person needs to be a fantastic teacher.

Jessica Leichter: I can deny till I die that I didn't want to be an educator and that I loved whatever else I chose but I knew that there would be nothing else that satisfied me the way that education would. People are really surprised when I tell them I'm first generation. They just assumed that my parents were college-educated and I'm just following in their footsteps, but I don't think they realize all that my parents went through to get to that spot, they weren't just given it. My mom, she didn't have the best start to education she wasn't set up to succeed, I guess you could say.

Kim Leichter: I had some struggles my entire childhood. I grew up with two very dysfunctional parents, one with mental illness and one with an alcohol problem, so my background in education was difficult and almost non-existent. 

Jessica Leichter: She went to school hungry most days, she didn't have parents at home that would help her with homework.

Kim Leichter: I call myself a functioning illiterate, not able to do basic math. I spell at probably a second-grade level.

Jessica Leichter: She couldn't even form a simple note without looking at the dictionary and so she said you don't realize how tough it is to live day by day without a proper education until you don't have it. She said I dreaded filling out a birthday card or writing a note to your teacher because I felt like they would judge me because I can't spell and I can't use grammar. My dad, he got to high school and he told me that he went to see his guidance counselor.

James Leichter: And she said your test score showed that you would be interested in public speaking, politics, maybe science, and I wouldn't waste my time with that, I would consider possibly a career in the military or a trade school, at a 1.7 grade point average right? So who am I to tell her, who has got all those plaques on the wall that she's wrong, so I looked at my feet and mumbled, okay and left her room.

Jessica Leichter: I mean he still remembers that today and I think that really impacted him. My mom said from the moment she got pregnant she knew I was going to college, there was no option. They had no idea what to do so it was all up to me and if I forgot to do something then it was all on me. You know I had to know when to take the ACT, I mean I was the guinea pig. My first semester was quite interesting and it seemed like everyone around me was loving school and I just wasn't. College, you're pretty much on your own and they expect you to figure out everything. And, people who have long traditions of their family going to the same school, they know it all. They know all the cool places to eat and they know all the things to do and I never felt like I had that and yeah I was sort of envious of the people that had this long history of K-Staters because they just seemed to be so comfortable here. They already knew the fight song, they already knew the cheers. I went to the first football game and looked like a complete idiot. It's the little things that you don't think will make a difference but really do.

I think being a first generation student means that you're kind of like the ground-breaker for everything in your family and you're the first one to like really step out on a limb and reach for something higher than everyone else has it be easy to just say well, no one in my family went to college so I'm not gonna complete it either. I think it's a big risk when you're the first one to say, you know, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna be the first one in my entire family to really try to achieve and do better. I love when I see my parents proud and they were definitely really happy at my high school graduation, but I think they're going to be super excited my college graduation because it's one thing to like start it but, just knowing that like I finished it and I did it I think will give them so much joy.