“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.” This sentiment, voiced by Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, reflects my understanding of what a flourishing relationship between students and learning can look like. Everyone is born with a desire to explore, whether through reading, listening, experimenting, or any other way you can imagine. My belief — that learning is everyone’s second nature — has guided my work the past six years during which I’ve taught academics, coached basketball, and mentored writers before joining the Mastery School as a Teaching Apprentice. I strive to create spaces where learning comes to students as inevitably as breathing. This is not to say learning is simple or effortless, but rather, by recognizing themselves as intrinsic learners, students find endless ways to expand their minds and future, enhanced by their values, communities, and passions. My own passions include creative writing, bioethics, and staying physically active: mainly by running but also by bouldering, hooping, practicing karate, and playing frisbee. And of course, I love to read.