I’m currently a Freshman at New York University majoring in Childhood Education & Special Education and minoring in Child Adolescent Mental Health Studies. I'm in my second year of my internship program called CLASSP (Consortia for Learning and Service to Special Populations) for special needs students. The first few days of my job were really stressful as the students didn’t know me and I didn’t know them. It was very difficult to communicate with them, especially since there are multiple (3) special needs students all with different needs. One child has Down Syndrome, and the other two were nonverbal autistic. During my first year of working, with students with special needs, I encountered difficulties. These are not limited to the throwing of chairs, ripping of papers, biting, temper tantrums, and so much more. With that in mind, I have to keep reminding myself that these students sometimes don’t understand my commands and that I would have to either repeat myself or assist them with commands like doing homework, washing hands, during activities, and cleaning up after themselves. Being in a workplace with only one person working with you, can either be the best experience, or it can make your day so much worse, and luckily, the person I’m working with is also in the same boat as me, the same age and we have lots in common. I believe the most important issue when it comes to facing the special education field is the often misunderstanding between the Special Education teacher when communicating with the parents. Parents want what is best for their child(ren), and it's hard when what they want isn't being taught. Educators must ensure everyone's voice is heard and look at both points in the story. Especially since a student's childhood is the foundation for their future, it's super important to set up that success for that student. As an educator what I would do is set up a 1 on 1 meeting with the parent(s) and make sure we are all on the same page and create a “What's Next?” plan which in the long run is not only going to benefit you the educator but both the parent(s) and the student(s). Though it might e a difficult task, I’m willing to take the experience and opportunity that I have been given and explore more in the special education work field to prepare myself for classes in college and my future career goals as a special education teacher.

Even at a young age, I have always enjoyed helping others in need, especially during this pandemic. I'm grateful that I got prior knowledge and experience from past volunteer work. Currently, I'm volunteering for a local preschool as a teacher's assistant. In that volunteer work, my duties are to ensure that the environment is cleaned once a day and make sure the students are well-behaved when the teacher is not around; this also applies to helping them with homework. I'm a part of my school's Key Club, which takes volunteer work out of the local circle, and places it internationally. We do many things to help out the community, like donating toys to the children for Christmas. Since families are affected by the pandemic, many of them can't support their kids when purchasing their Christmas items. I have also been accepted into an internship as a volunteer worker for special needs that was supposed to start this fall, but due to the pandemic, it was postponed. A career field I'm interested in is childhood education/special education. I have always dreamt of being a teacher; even at a young age, people would ask me, "What do you want to be in the future?" I would always answer with a teacher. One of my main reasons is that my mother is a teacher and has been for thirty years; her dedication has led her to start her daycare center. From time to time, I would help her teach and ensure the students behave while the teachers are unavailable. I enjoy teaching and sharing my knowledge with others. Many teachers choose this profession because they are willing to make a difference. People seem to recall their teachers for a lifetime; even after graduating, some students would go back to their old schools to visit their teachers. My goal is to bring a positive difference to children's future; it's just like passing on the family's tradition. One thing passes on to the next, and sometimes a teacher can influence others to become an educator in the future. I have started my journey to becoming a teacher by joining education-related internships and volunteering for a local preschool. As an intern or just simply volunteering, it gives me an insight into my future job and, most importantly, the experience. You get to co-teach a classroom with teachers who sometimes give you wise tips on starting the journey to becoming a future educator, something I would like to give to my students. Education has always been a word in my mind, teaching, learning, and really anything dealing with kids I’m willing to attend and help out. I have always loved teaching the little ones and just started diving much deeper into the special education field. Observing how they act to certain sounds and different situations is very crucial to understanding them as a whole. Currently, I’m working for an internship program called CLASSP (Consortia for Learning And Service to Special Populations) for special needs students. I had to work with a child who has Down Syndrome, and the other was a nonverbal autistic child. Working together with your co-worker is so important because you have to communicate with one another, if one child has an accident you would have to put the care of the children in their care. A community is not just one person doing everything; it is a group of people that make things happen. The whole world doesn’t revolve around one person, it’s all about supporting one another. As an active member of my community, I devote my extra time to helping those in need. I’m the current president of my school’s Key Club, which is a student-led organization that helps out people in need! As president, I have to make sure to keep strong communicating with the rest of the board members as well as plan events for members. During my time as president, along with the rest of the board members we have raised over $2000+ for those in need, this includes small businesses, the Kinds in need foundation, Kamp Kiwanis, and so much more. During these challenging times, some parents didn’t have enough time to take care of their kids, especially if they are working at home or even going to work, they do not have enough time to take care of their child/ren. So after my virtual school, during my free time, I would be making lesson plans for the students I was going to tutor during the weekends.

Being a future educator for the future generation has always been a goal of mine. My middle school music teacher, Ms. Lehki helped me shape my foundation. Ms. Lehki has been by far the best teacher I’ve had in my life, and without her, I would not have been as active as I am in my community. As an immigrant who moved from China back in 2009, I was one of the few kids in my school that had trouble with the English language and had to take an extra course called ESL to enhance my vocabulary. As a result, my social skills were deficient, and I had little to no friends. When I transitioned to middle school, I met Ms. Lehki, and she helped me express who I was a person and as a musician. That was the reason I was interested in music in the first place! I participated in many school activities like school concerts, plays, and helping other students beginning with music throughout the three years. A long-term career goal is becoming an educator, and Ms. Lehki helped with the foundation. I knew nothing about music, and when she asked me to join the Orchestra, I was initially hesitant. “How do you use a bow?” “How do I use the violin?” “How do you tune a violin?”, all of these questions were the questions I asked, and all Ms. Lehki said was, “Don’t worry. You will know.” All three years, I studied under Ms. Lehki, and now I’m in the Advanced Orchestra in High School. If you believe in something, it will happen. All you have to do is work hard to achieve that goal; never give up because, in the end, it’s going to be all worth it. Being an educator for the youth, especially at the earlier stage, is like me starting to play the violin, building a base for the future. Not only will my teaching affect one student, but it can also affect generations and generations after that. Kids will become adults, and one day, these adults might want to have children, so they pass the knowledge down.

Education has always been a word in my mind, teaching, learning, and really anything dealing with kids I’m willing to attend and help out. I have always loved teaching the little ones and just started diving much deeper into the special education field. Observing how they act to certain sounds and different situations is very crucial to understanding them as a whole. Currently, I’m working for an internship program called CLASSP (Consortia for Learning And Service to Special Populations) for special needs students. I had to work with a child who has Down Syndrome, and the other was a nonverbal autistic child. Working together with your co-worker is so important because you have to communicate with one another, if one child has an accident you would have to put the care of the children in their care. A community is not just one person doing everything; it is a group of people that make things happen. The whole world doesn’t revolve around one person, it’s all about supporting one another. As an active member of my community, I devote my extra time to helping those in need. I’m the current president of my school’s Key Club, which is a student-led organization that helps out the people in need! As president, I have to make sure to keep a strong communicating with the rest of the board members as well as plan events for members. During my time as president, along with the rest of the board members we have raised over $2000+ to those in need, this includes small businesses, the Kinds in need foundation, Kamp Kiwanis, and so much more.

An experience that helped me shape my character and get to where I now would have to be my transition from elementary school to middle school and, more specifically, my music teacher, Ms. Lehki. Ms. Lehki has been by far the best teacher I’ve had in my life, and without her, I would not have been as active as I am in my community. As an immigrant who moved from China back in 2009, I was one of the few kids in my school that had trouble with the English language and had to take an extra course called ESL to enhance my vocabulary. As a result, my social skills were deficient, and I had little to no friends. When I transitioned to middle school, I met Ms. Lehki, and she helped me express who I was a person and as a musician. That was the reason I was interested in music in the first place! I participated in many school activities like school concerts, plays, and helping other students beginning with music throughout the three years. A long-term career goal is becoming an educator, and Ms. Lehki helped with the foundation. I knew nothing about music, and when she asked me to join the Orchestra, I was initially hesitant. “How do you use a bow?” “How do I use the violin?” “How do you tune a violin?”, all of these questions were the questions I asked, and all Ms. Lehki said was, “Don’t worry. You will know.” All three years, I studied under Ms. Lehki, and now I’m in the Advanced Orchestra in High School. If you believe in something, it will happen. All you have to do is work hard to achieve that goal; never give up because, in the end, it’s going to be all worth it.

An experience that helped me shape my character and get to where I now would have to be my transition from elementary school to middle school and, more specifically, my music teacher, Ms. Lehki. Ms. Lehki has been by far the best teacher I’ve had in my life, and without her, I would not have been as active as I am in my community. As an immigrant who moved from China back in 2009, I was one of the few kids in my school that had trouble with the English language and had to take an extra course called ESL to enhance my vocabulary. As a result, my social skills were deficient, and I had little to no friends. When I transitioned to middle school, I met Ms. Lehki, and she helped me express who I was as a person and as a musician. That was the reason I was interested in music in the first place! I participated in many school activities like school concerts, plays, and helping other students beginning with music throughout the three years. A long-term career goal is becoming an educator, and Ms. Lehki helped with the foundation. I knew nothing about music, and when she asked me to join the Orchestra, I was initially hesitant. “How do you use a bow?” “How do I use the violin?” “How do you tune a violin?”, all of these questions were the questions I asked, and all Ms. Lehki said was, “Don’t worry. You will know.” All three years, I studied under Ms. Lehki, and now I’m in the Advanced Orchestra in High School. If you believe in something, it will happen. All you have to do is work hard to achieve that goal; never give up because, in the end, it’s going to be all worth it. Being an educator for the youth, especially at the earlier stage, is like me starting to play the violin, building a base for the future. Not only will my teaching affect one student, but it can also affect generations and generations after that. Kids will become adults, and one day, these adults might want to have children, so they pass the knowledge down.