My name is Maisaa Atileh. I'm a post- baccalaureate student at Moravian College, in Bethlehem, PA. Currently, I'm enrolled in an education program in order to get my certification in math secondary education. I'm originally from Syria, but I've been in the USA for ten years now. I'm married to Salim Atileh and we have three daughters. I have a very lovely family and I enjoy spending time with them especially my seven months old daughter; the other two children are just as enjoyable as the youngest. Since enrolling in the school and having three kids, I don't have much free time for hobbies. However, when time is available, I like to exerciser, read, and listen to music. Back home I left big family consisted of one brother and three sisters; and I have another brother who lives here in USA. I miss my family a lot espccially my sisters; they are so special for me.


After I graduated from high school, I pursued a degree in mechanical engineering from my original home country of Syria. I had the opportunity to work as an engineer for one year back home before coming to the United States. After being in USA for a couple months, I took a few English courses to improve my new language. My two favorite subjects are math and chemistry, so I decided to change my career to study pharmacy, which was my dream since I was in middle school. I went to Northampton Community College (NCC) to gain a toward the pharmaceutical degree; I was unable to continue my stdies in pharmaceuticals because it was very difficult to proceed while taking care of the children.I decided to alter my studies and was happy to get an associate degree in chemistry from NCC. I looked for a job within the engineering or chemistry fields but was unable to find something in those areas. As a result, I choose another career to became a math teacher for middle and high school students. I've been in the program for two semesters. I like math a lot and that is why I studied engineering. I was unable to go to pharmacy school back home because of the high school grade limitation that the school system has over there. I like dealing with numeric problems and solving math problem is a joy for me, especially as I progress  through the problem to figure out the solution. I feel the same about chemistry. In the future, I might look forward to get certified in chemistry as well, which I'm not able to do now along with the math certification. My goal is to be an effective teacher and find a job that will allow me to advance my career while not compromising my family's needs.