In the United States, principal investigators of the National Science Foundation's Noyce Scholars program are challenged with identifying college STEM majors who have a fledgling interest in science teaching and preparing them to teach in high-needs school districts. The purpose of this longitudinal research project was to quantitatively and qualitatively identify STEM majors' self-view on becoming a science teacher when they applied to one college campus based, Noyce Scholars program, and to describe how their self-view on becoming a science teacher in a high-needs school district evolved from their college years into their early careers as science teachers. To address the purpose of the study, researchers quantitatively analyzed emergent themes in a series of three reflective essays written by sixteen Noyce Scholars over a five-year period. The first essay was part of their Noyce Scholars program application; the second essay was written approximately three-years later during their undergraduate coursework; and the final essay was written during their induction year as a science teacher in a high-needs school district. Essay analyses revealed that the Noyce scholars' self-view of teaching science in high-needs schools spreads from a narrow focus on personal experiences as students, to an in-service self-view characterized by broad understandings of some of the challenges, rewards and pedagogical competencies needed to teach science in a high-needs school.