Sarah Stines, 18, wants to help students learn something new everyday.

Stines, the daughter of Chris and Judy Stines of Kouts and senior at Kouts High School, wants to be a teacher and will attend St. Joseph College in Rensselaer to study secondary math education next year. She's received an honors scholarship from the college and is in contention for a full-ride Presidential Scholarship based on academics.

"I've always wanted to be a teacher, even in elementary school," she said. "Math is my strong point in school and a lot of people I know have trouble in math and I want to be able to help younger people to understand and get better because math is important in all careers."

Stines tutored students in math and English and realizes she has a knack for helping others grasp difficult ideas and concepts. "I'm better with older kids, middle school and high school. I seem to be able to relate and express myself more to them than younger (students)," she added.

The Midwestern campus of St. Joseph College appealed to Stines right away. "I talked to the professors and they were very enthusiastic about teaching and it was small, which is nice," she said.

At Kouts, Stines is an honor student with a 3.8 grade point average on a 4.0 scale. She is taking a dual credit biology II course along with Advanced Placement calculus. She is a member of National Honor Society, a four-year varsity cross-country runner and a three-year varsity track runner. She may run track again in the spring.

She also played clarinet in band freshman and sophomore year and competed in Indiana State School Music Association contests as an ensemble earning a gold rating. Stines continues to participate in school service projects. She has helped collect money for Porter County Animal Shelter and food for a local food pantry. She's also done charity work through Porter Hospital.

By Sue Bero, Times Correspondent

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