Originally, it was not my plan to work in education. I was on the road to medical school; however, when I reached university, it became clear that my love for anatomy did not outweigh the notoriously tiresome coursework that came with my intended aspirations. I gave it my two best shots and then called it quits. While I ended up graduating with a related degree (public health), I ended up on a path to the world of education instead.
My first “post-graduate” opportunity was in London, a city I always wanted to live in. While working there as an intern, I had a great learning experience collaborating with professionals across the boroughs, along with my wonderful colleagues at the non-profit I was at. I had my hands in a lot of different assignments, like blogging and research. However, my most special project was working on domestic violence prevention curriculum implementation. If memory serves, our focus group was middle school students. We helped them navigate what healthy relationships are supposed to look like, at an age where they typically become curious about such a topic. As I coded data from the pre- and post-workshop surveys we had students fill out, I was happy to see how their attitudes altered. They understood the importance of respect and consent. It made me realize how powerful preventative health education is.
Fast forward to a year later and I was back on American soil, up near the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. I had landed a job in parks and recreation, where I spent many hours a day hiking with students and taught them life sciences and wilderness classes. To this day, it is one of my favorite ways of educating. At the time, I had no clue why I was doing it; no one had ever mentioned this type of work existed, and I was the only person of color on the team. All I knew for certain was that the mountains were an awesome learning environment, and it changed the way I felt about traditional education. You know what they say, “you can’t judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree”. Not every learner is the same and some of us crave an experiential component instead of sitting for hours every day in a school building.
Truth be told that job was not sustainable (five bucks an hour and no benefits, aside from employer-provided housing), so after some time, I jetted off to a new adventure in South Korea. This was my first traditional teaching job. You know, the type where you have rows of desks in a classroom, a whiteboard, and colleagues who all have a formal background in education. I can’t tell you how much I grew through this position. My creativity was encouraged, and my linguistic abilities were on full display as I quickly picked up Korean and started using it to teach English. I found myself fully immersed in inclusive lesson-planning and was intrigued by the different barriers to education in the rural suburbs of Seoul. As tough as some days were, I had the sweetest bunch of students. It felt bittersweet when I left a couple years later.
At this point, there was no turning back. All my professional experience had somehow been centered around education, so I decided to keep going. My first gig after moving back to the U.S. was at an arts conservatory on the east coast. It was the best and the absolute worst. The best because everyone was able to fully express themselves through art and fashion, myself included. The worst because, not too long after starting that job, the pandemic hit. However, in those dark times, I found strength, grit, and resilience. I used my voice to protect and advocate for students and my eyes were opened to so many inequities and bureaucracy within education. It completely changed me as a person.
Currently, I work at a boarding school and recently wrapped up an extended internship in collegiate-level international education. You got it, more nontraditional spaces. I think going against the norm might be my thing. Moving forward, my hope is that people see me, hear my story, and know that they have options in life beyond what they know. Representation is important. I know that if someone like me was present in educational spaces I grew up in, I would have appreciated it very much.
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