The overall betterment of my community is what drives me. I often find that when I am placed in a situation where I can either choose the easy way, or the way that will best suit the community, I choose the later. One such instance was when I worked at the YMCA over the summer of 2022, I was initially hired as a teacher aide to the summer learners program. Off the bat, I realized that my role was not understood by the main teacher as I was being asked to do much more than the job description entailed (i.e. writing and developing lesson plans, leading my own groups, and even becoming the main teacher in multiple instances). I agreed to do so and began bonding with the class through the weeks to come. What I began noticing is that many of the children were not near the level they should have been for their age. As my relationship with the students grew, so did my concern for their preparedness and it became obvious I would have to step up my level of effort. I began by asking my mother (an elementary school teacher herself) for some materials. Now instead of the worksheets and books the children had become accustomed to in the program were replaced with more interactive ways of learning like brain puzzles, manipulatives and more. Another issue that I noticed was that each student was being taught the exact same way with no differentiation. I used advice from my mother, paired with my education in my teacher education classes at my high school (Northwest Career and Technical Academy) to diagnose each student through defined learning strategies and use this diagnosis to create a learning plan for each student that accounted for both their primary and tertiary learning types as well as their current skill level and expectation for their grade. About a month into the two-month program I received an email that due to transportation issues the main teacher would not be able to continue with the program, and therefore it would be shut down for the summer. This was troubling, and after some contemplation, I wrote an email to the supervisor of the youth program asking her if I could take over as the main teacher for the program for the remainder of the summer. It was not fair that these students who had already been let down by the school district would not be prepared for their upcoming school year simply because of an issue unrelated to them. While it was a massive step and a big amount of responsibility, I stepped up to the challenge and had a major effect on the academic well-being of the class.

When I worked at the YMCA over the summer of 2022, I was initially hired as a teacher aide to the summer learners program. Off the bat, I realized that my role was not understood by the main teacher as I was being asked to do much more than the job description entailed (i.e. writing and developing lesson plans, leading my own groups, and even becoming the main teacher in multiple instances). I agreed to do so and began bonding with the class through the weeks to come. What I began noticing is that many of the children were not near the level they should have been for their age. As my relationship with the students grew, so did my concern for their preparedness and it became obvious I would have to step up my level of effort. I began by asking my mother (an elementary school teacher herself) for some materials. Now instead of the worksheets and books the children had become accustomed to in the program were replaced with more interactive ways of learning like brain puzzles, manipulatives and more. Another issue that I noticed was that each student was being taught the exact same way with no differentiation. I used advice from my mother, paired with my education in my teacher education classes at my high school (Northwest Career and Technical Academy) to diagnose each student through defined learning strategies and use this diagnosis to create a learning plan for each student that accounted for both their primary and tertiary learning types as well as their current skill level and expectation for their grade. About a month into the two-month program I received an email that due to transportation issues the main teacher would not be able to continue with the program, and therefore it would be shut down for the summer. This was troubling, and after some contemplation, I wrote an email to the supervisor of the youth program asking her if I could take over as the main teacher for the program for the remainder of the summer. It was not fair that these students who had already been let down by the school district would not be prepared for their upcoming school year simply because of an issue unrelated to them. While it was a massive step and a big amount of responsibility, I stepped up to the challenge and had a major effect on the academic well-being of the class.