In branching out, I hope to eventually move these newly acquired skills into opportunities to work with public schools. Several schools that I am intimately familiar with exhibited many struggles that I’d like to help alleviate. Their students were primarily from migrant and immigrant families, some refugees, representing over 50 different cultures and spoken languages (some with no known written language)! These schools had little to no teaching or administrative staff of color to reflect the student population. They also registered an exorbitant amount of young students as EBD (emotional behavioral disorder) and assigned them to special needs classrooms. In many cases, the EBD assignments were due to a failure to connect with the student, and a failure to communicate between the teacher and the parents—by language barrier, cultural ignorance, assumptions, and other issues. Many times, students were labeled as difficult rather than speaking with the parents about what behaviors are typically acceptable at home versus what’s acceptable in the classroom. Many times, parents not familiar with “American” culture aren’t yet comfortable approaching teachers to speak on behalf of their children. Many times, parents have experienced so much past negativity from schools that they automatically take a defensive position when contacted by a teacher, rather than feeling a sense of welcome or collaboration. I am motivated by the need of multicultural awareness and open communication, to be an advocate and assist in building bridges in order to prevent mislabeling of students from marginalized populations as special needs; to assist in preventing absenteeism and eventual drop-out rates due to a lack of encouragement and connection, with hopes of changing the educational environment into a welcoming, safe, and inclusive one.

Along-with these intentions, I am also motivated as a lifelong learner and a need to widen my perspective. I am motivated by time, and the need to get my master’s before my eldest starts college on his own. And I am motivated simply by the challenges of the online format of this program. My teenager failed two classes due to difficulties wrapping his mind around the technology. He was unable to track all of the different formats used, regularly missed assignments, and he eventually threw his hands up and watched his grades tumble. The students of my graduate school are also just now encountering hybrid and online courses. By being in a program that is entirely online, I am learning to empathize with students (and faculty) as they struggle with all that comes with online learning.

The things that make me most passionate about learning are really the smallest details and intricacies of a subject. As a STEM major, I absolutely adored biophysics and how the body functions not just on a molecular level but even a subatomic level. There is always more to know and with enough effort, an explanation can be found. This is my infatuation with education as well. There is always more to know and always more to teach. Additionally, it is the finer details that make the largest impacts on our students. Whether it is telling a humanizing story, making a funny joke, or rephrasing a question, it is those small moments that make students have those epiphanic gasps of learning. And at the biophysical level, we’re connecting neurons that haven’t communicated before and building an entirely new infrastructure of neurocircuitry. I find the whole experience so fascinating.