Maria Procopio attends Franciscan University of Steubenville, in Ohio. She is a senior majoring in middle-childhood education, specializing in math and language arts. Maria wishes to become a teacher in a Catholic school, and would love to return to her all girls high school and teach math, English, or religion. Maria tutors at her campus writing center, and her future students inspire her to succeed in school today. Whenever she is overwhelmed with homework, she asks herself why she is pursuing a career in education. “The answer is simple: for my future students’ whose lives I will affect as their teacher,” she says.

Maria has played tennis for ten years, and would love to coach tennis one day. She also loves travelling around Italy, and over the summer started teaching herself Italian. “Walking the streets of Venice, hearing the locals saying ‘Ciao bella,’ I could not imagine being anywhere else. My trip to Italy has inspired me to come in touch with my Italian heritage.”