What’s something you’re passionate about outside of school? Outside of school I work for the city of San Leandro. I work at Chabot day camp during the summer. It is a camp I’ve been a part of since I was eight years old. I was a camper there and then I transitioned into a CIT, a counselor in training, and I got to experience working with kids and I just fell in love with it. The community vibe, it became kind of like a family to me, and that’s kind of where I realized that I wanted to become a teacher. Last year, I got the opportunity to apply to work there full-time as an official, like hired counselor, which was such a great honor.. It was just really fulfilling; it was really fun, and I got to do it with all my friends, which is great. Being a teacher was always in the back of my mind, like when kids were talking about what they wanted to be when they grew up, but it never really was the front runner until camp. I really like that I discovered that I wanted to make an impact on kids. I’ve had such great teachers that have kind of inspired me and motivated me and I want to just make sure that kids feel excited about learning andI want to guide them the same way my teachers have guided me.
I mean, obviously there’s ups and downs coming from kids’ tantrums and stuff like that, but it’s all a learning curve. I think with each kid, you really get to experience a new style of what works for them and it really helps you with future challenges that you might have.
I’ve learned that I’m actually pretty good and comfortable taking along leadership roles. I like the challenge of being not necessarily in control, but having some like responsibility and growing that sense of just dependability that people can depend on me. It is really comforting to know that I’m one of the people that people can rely on and trust and if they give me something I can handle it and get it done for them.
