Student Profiles

Why Education?

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a teacher. I have always loved learning, I enjoy working with students, and I believe that an educated population can and will positively impact the future. I value my own education and feel lucky to have had teachers who are knowledgeable and enthusiastic about their content area and the schools in which they teach. As my teachers did for me, I hope that I can inspire students to love learning, and to develop and discover interest areas that excite them.

In Los Angeles, where I lived until I was 12 years old, I went to the UCLA Lab School on the University campus. When my family moved to New York City in time for me to start seventh grade, I opted to attend a private all-girls K-12 school on the Upper East Side. While I was in school predominately with girls who were white and from families similar to my own, my mom began researching the American public school system. When she brought her work home, she would talk about the inequities and inequalities that characterize much of American public education—in school resources, opportunities to succeed (whatever the definition of success), teacher retention rates, etc. In hearing her talk, I grew increasingly interested in learning about the forces at play. My first step to understanding the history and current state of American education was enrolling in Contemporary American Education 1101 in my first year at Bowdoin College.

As a Government major and Education Studies minor at Bowdoin, I have been able nourish my interests in learning about the differences among and between countries, across cultures and races, communicating in different languages, and issues of equality. My experiences with Bowdoin’s Education Department in classes like Educational Psychology, Urban Education, and an Independent Study on Multiculturalism in public school classrooms have been the most rewarding. In the course that I credit as my most impactful class at Bowdoin, Educating All Students (2203), I observed, analyzed and came to appreciate learning behaviors and classroom expectations in a Maine public school from the educator’s perspective. For one academic year, for three hours each week, I shadowed a 14-year old student from Somalia. Together we set goals that challenged her abilities. In our early days together, she sat quietly in the back of a classroom. By the spring term, she’d grown into a young teenager who regularly raised her hand with confidence. During our time together, she displayed a strong sense of self and mastery of content in subjects including math, science, English language and social studies. To see this student successfully overcome her shyness, navigate middle school and thrive academically and socially convinced me to pursue a future in Education.

Why Education?

I grew up in a family full of teachers. My mom was a math teacher at a local public high school and seven of my aunts and uncles were teachers as well. Thanksgiving dinners were, and still are, always replete with discussions about mayoral control failings and school budget cuts. As a student at a well-funded public school, though, I didn’t understand how public schools could be seen as failing. I was curious as to why I kept hearing about the public school crisis and why it elicited such strong emotions in my family members. So, it is, perhaps, not surprising that I came to Bowdoin with the intention of studying education in some capacity. But, in addition to gaining a deeper understanding of the educational policies I grew up hearing about, studying education at Bowdoin has also connected me to a number of opportunities to get involved in exciting educational projects both here in Maine and beyond.

During the spring of my first year, I took 1101 and through this class met a Cambodian exchange student. This student was an alumna of the Harpswell Foundation in Phnom Penh, an NGO that offers dormitories and educational enrichment programs for female university student from rural provinces. The Harpswell scholar offered a different perspective to our class discussions, and often posed questions that I would never have thought to ask: If all the students in a Maine lobstering community began to meaningfully engage in school and consider college, what would happen to the lobster industry? Why would American students choose to study at a university 3,000 miles from their home? My relationship with this Harpswell scholar led me to apply to live at the Harpswell dormitories, and as soon as classes ended, I left to teach and live among the Harpswell students in Cambodia.

My experience at the Harpswell Foundation and in a subsequent education course called Place-Based Education sparked my interest in English language education and community-based pedagogy. Since then, I have been exploring these topics through independent studies and other education classes. I have also been volunteering as a classroom assistant in English language classes for immigrants and refugees at Portland Adult Education (PAE). This position has allowed me to examine the intersection of English language education and place-based pedagogy: how these students acquire a new language and integrate into a new community. This year, I’m continuing to study these areas through an independent study, but have also incorporated computer science education. As a CS major, I’ve always wanted to examine the ways in which educators can make computer science more accessible, especially for culturally and linguistically diverse students. With the guidance of Professor Sarah Jessen and Professor Stephen Majercik, I am developing a community-based computer science curriculum that I will teach next fall to a group of adult refugees and asylum seekers at PAE.

The flexibility and enthusiasm of Education professors at Bowdoin has allowed me to not only explore a wide range of educational issues, but also examine how these issues can interact with each other. In this way, studying education has given me the opportunity to analyze the challenges of public education while simultaneously exploring solutions that could combat these issues and lead to sustainable, structural change.

Why Education?

I grew up in a suburb right outside of St. Louis, Missouri and attended my neighborhood public schools until 7^th grade, at which point my parents decided that private school would better address my education needs. At the time, I did not really understand why I had to start over and make new friends, but I realized that the public option did not offer me the best chances of full success. At a small secular private day school, the small class sizes and individual attention from teachers provided me with a more enriching environment that also ensured I would get support as I challenged myself.

Throughout the transition to private school, my 12-year-old self could not comprehend why the school I was familiar with, the public school, couldn’t just adapt their teaching methods to be more like the private school my parents wanted me to attend. Of course I realized in high school that the private school had an entirely different structure than the public school, as well as more resources to personalize my education. But beyond that, I now recognize that what I needed, and continue to need, from my education does not look like what anyone else needs. Each student learns in their own way and because of that, each student requires different things from school. I am incredibly fortunate that my parents were able to see that I needed something different from what public school offered, and were able to find and afford a school that met those needs.

The variety of schooling I experienced sparked a curiosity that led me to the education department my first semester at Bowdoin in my Fist-Year Seminar, The Educational Crusade, with Chuck Dorn. This course inspired me to continue thinking about education in America and in my life through an Education Studies minor. Since, I have been challenged to consider my privilege as a college student in America and examine what it means to be educated. In classes like Educating All Students and Education and the Human Condition with Doris Santoro, I turned educational philosophy and policy into plays and card games allowing my peers and me to think creatively about pedagogy. The Education Studies option best suited my interests as it allowed me to explore all facets of education – the history, the philosophy, and the practice. By embracing all angles of a topic, I feel well equipped to integrate education into my liberal arts studies at Bowdoin and into whatever education career I end up choosing.

Beyond this, being a part of the Education Department means being supported by brilliant professors and staff, who are deeply invested in helping you succeed. This department has inspired me to consider the importance of education to America and to the world. Education has the ability to help individuals and groups grapple with tough issues and challenge unjust social structures, while also providing individuals with the tools to make our society a better place. I feel it is my responsibility, as a liberally educated person, to take what I have learned and change the world for the better. I have not quite figured out what that means for me, but I know that education will play an integral part in that.

Why Education?

I was born and raised in the Northwest side of Chicago. It wasn't until I started attending a well-funded selective-enrollment, public high school that I realized the inequity present in the Chicago Public School system. I saw the same system that allowed me to flourish and develop intellectually fail my friends from elementary school who attended neighborhood public high schools. I struggled to understand why these stark disparities in education existed and how it was that my dear city was most known for a failing public school educational system. I credit my public, Chicagoan education and the teachers along the way who served as mentors as a huge part of the reason of why I am currently attending Bowdoin College. I became inspired and driven to grasp the ailments of a system that was largely failing my peers, yet had the potential to be a place in which they could thrive.

I delayed taking an education course until my sophomore year when my schedule would finally allow it. Instantly, I fell in love with everything about education and the Education Department at Bowdoin. I decided to become an Education Studies minor partly due to the fact that I find the material interesting and largely because of Doris Santoro a professor in the Education Department. This will be my third semester in a row of being in a class with Prof. Santoro and I cannot imagine the department without her. Doris has challenged me intellectually and emotionally in thinking about education in all its complexities: urban education, teaching, the process of learning, the human condition as it relates to education, race, culture, social expectations, standardization, etc. Ultimately, I have found education to be the source of my own emancipation and a tool through which others can undergo incredible journeys of self-discovery. I hope to one day become a professor at a university or college (like Bowdoin) and create a space where education can serve my students in just as transformative of a way as it has served me.

Why Education?

I grew up in South Central, Los Angeles and attended public schools throughout my K-12 education. Coming from a school in a low-income community, I felt overwhelmed coming to Bowdoin where there are an abundant amount of resources, small class sizes, and a wide range of areas of study.

The biggest wake-up call I had about my socioeconomic status was during an activity in the class Sociology of Education. Students were asked to form a circle, and told to step out of the circle if a statement applied to you. The professor said, “Step outside if one or both of your parents attended college.” As I looked from left to right, all my peers stepped outside the circle except me. I felt embarrassed and sad that I was the only first generation student in the class (I was also the only person of color in that class too). However, she used this activity to point out the inequalities in education and how it can impact us in moving up or down in the socioeconomic ladder. My discomfort changed to curiosity as I learned more about how inequality played in the U.S. education system.

In my first year of college, I was nervous about taking math classes at Bowdoin. I felt unprepared in taking Calculus, Computer Science or science classes. My advisor recommended me to take a Calculus with Professor Barker. Throughout the semester, I felt engaged in Calculus as Professor Barker took the time and effort in helping me learn the concepts. I realized that having a professor/teacher who is passionate about the material and offers support outside the classroom is crucial for students to succeed in math.

After Bowdoin, I will be working as a math middle school teaching assistant and getting my Massachusetts teaching license at the Boston Teacher Residency program. My teaching goal is to help urban students realize that learning and excelling in mathematics is possible. I hope to obtain a National Board Certification after a few years teaching in Boston. With a background in teaching in urban schools, I plan to enroll in a Doctorate program in Education Leadership, and return to Los Angeles Unified School District either as a school board member or superintendent.

Why Education?

Before coming to Bowdoin, my education was that of a typical college-bound student. I attended early childhood development programs and a private elementary school before enrolling in a high-ranking, independent middle and high school. I didn’t know many students who weren’t academically motivated, and even fewer who did not have aspirations to go to college. My all-girls experience in middle and high school taught me numerous ways to be prepared for the next step, an academically rigorous college that would. I never considered how academically capable students can be even if they do not have college in their future, those for whom college isn’t the right answer. My classes in the Education department and my time spent in local classrooms helped me rethink that perspective.

My Education 1101 class is the reason I am becoming a teacher. Before I took the class as a sophomore, I had absolutely no intention of ever being in a classroom after college. It was the first time I had ever been in a public school classroom in my entire life. Having started to study the policies and intentions that govern public schools, I learned that schools are one of the most important places where kids learn to become people. I stepped into a third grade class where students were learning how to measure and starting to think critically about the world they live in. I knew I had to be in this kind of environment.

The rest of the courses I took in Education delved into the issues that teachers face every day with an emphasis on the aspect I find most interesting: how students learn. Combining theory and practice allowed me to explore concepts and discover the issues students face as learners in an academic, social, and political environment in a way I could not in my other classes. The moments I spent in American public schools inspired me to pursue a research project on the “extracurricular” lessons (responsibility, self-motivation, time management, etc.) taught in French public schools when I studied abroad in Bordeaux. I worked as a tutor at an after-school center, and I was able to use the lessons I had learned from Bowdoin to be an effective teaching by listening to my students’ needs and differentiating my teaching style in order to help them improve.

The last four years at Bowdoin have exposed me to many new forms of education—public, independent, domestic, foreign, charter— and I am excited to go on to combine these experiences as I travel to Jordan to teach physics at an American-style boarding school. I plan to return to the U.S. to obtain a Master of Arts in Teaching or a Master’s in STEM Education. During this time, I hope to continue to grow as a learner and further enhance the lessons I learned at Bowdoin.

Why Education?

I’ve dreamed of becoming a teacher since the first grade, so when it came to choosing what college I would attend, a strong education program was a must. Bowdoin has certainly not disappointed.

What’s great about the Bowdoin Education Department is that in order to complete my interdisciplinary major, I had to take four education courses that provided the perfect balance of theory versus practice. Even in Contemporary American Education, the introductory level course, I spent a day in a local school to observe some of the struggles that face our public schools today.  In Educating All Students (Education 2203), I worked one-on-one with a 7^th grade English Language Learner. I was able to make observations about how he experienced school, and it allowed me to see first-hand many of the issues and potential solutions that we learned about in class. I quickly came to realize that the most effective teachers are the ones who try to understand where each of their students come from and how each of them learn best. The final two courses were Teaching and Learning (Education 3301) and Curriculum (Education 3302). While in class, we learned a variety of teaching and classroom management techniques, and we had a number of professional development meetings with local experts in the field. As part of these courses, I worked in a 7^thgrade math classroom and designed an entire unit on my own – and even got to teach three of my lessons!

Throughout my time at Bowdoin, I’ve been incredibly lucky to have education professors who are both knowledgeable and supportive. They helped me find a summer job that gave me teaching experience, and equally important, for my placements, they found me schools with veteran, experienced teachers who were always excited to share their words of wisdom with me. I was already convinced that I wanted to be a teacher, but I now know that I want to inspire students to love learning and math just like my teachers and professors have done for me.

Following graduation, I plan on substitute teaching in the fall, and I then hope to return to Bowdoin in the spring to participate in the Bowdoin Teacher Scholars program. From there, I want to give back to the state I’ve called home all my life by becoming a middle school or high school math teacher right here in Maine.

Why Education?

Prior to Bowdoin, my education experience consisted only of my rural schooling in western Wyoming. To me, my small, homogeneous local school was representative of most schools in the United States. It was the only thing I had ever known, so I never questioned it. On my very first day of Education 1101 during the fall of my first year at Bowdoin, I was exposed to at least five other types of school experiences, and I was hooked. I left each class thereafter full of new perspectives, ideas, and questions. It was those lingering questions that kept me going back and fueling my curiosity for the American education system.

The following year, I took Education 2203 (Educating All Students), which gave me the opportunity to observe and be a part of a fifth grade classroom. It was there where I was first able to see theory put into practice. Since then, I have had the great opportunity to take Education 2265 (Using the Environment to Educate), Education 3325 (Mindfulness in Education), and finally Teaching and Learning and Curriculum (Education 3301/3302)—all of which have furthered my desire and passion to teach with their time spent in schools, engaging discussions, and preparation for a confident future in education. Each class has been unique, but each has contributed to my overall formation as a learner and as a future teacher. I especially value the local school engagement component part of my classes, as it provides a unique opportunity to witness different teaching and learning techniques and build close connections with the Maine community.

The capstone of my experience in education at Bowdoin has come through my time in Teaching Learning and Curriculum (Education 3301/3302). This past semester, I have spent well over 40 hours in an 8^th grade Social Studies classroom as an active observer and participant. The excitement I get each morning as I navigate through the bustling hallways and into the challenge of teaching in the classroom is something I can’t shake.

My time in my education classes at Bowdoin has inspired me to pursue education in other forms as well. I spent the fall semester of my junior year studying abroad in Mendoza, Argentina. While there, I worked as an English tutor in a trilingual school (Spanish, Italian, and English). I was grateful to have the confidence and knowledge that I gained from my education courses to be able to teach in this situation, and I have gained so much from bringing that experience home with me and expanding upon it.

These past four years have exposed me to educational experiences far beyond my own—in Maine, the United States, and beyond. I am not sure where my education path will take me next as I prepare to graduate in the spring, but I go with the guidance and preparation that has been given to me by all the amazing professors of the Education department. I know that I will keep asking questions as we work toward the answers of education in our country today, and I can’t wait!

Why Education?

I grew up in Richardson, TX, a city north of Dallas, and attended a public school that I started walking to with my friends when I was in second grade. It was a school embedded into the community, with sufficient resources, and a friendly staff. Around 3^rd grade, my parents started talking about placing me in a private school. When I asked them why, they explained that the school’s emphasis on standardized testing, mandated by the state of Texas, was diluting my education—when I complete assignments early I filed paperwork and stapled handouts for teachers, and during free reading time I was often asked to read with students who were struggling. While I denied their criticisms of my beloved elementary school, I couldn’t help but notice the faults and flaws that abounded within the classroom. While ultimately I ended up at a private, co-ed school in Dallas, their comments and my vicarious experience of public school from my childhood friends inspired me to think critically about education: Why do some students get a better education than others? How do you quantify student success? What does critically thinking look like?

During my first year at Bowdoin, I decided to take Contemporary American Education in hope for some answers to these tough questions. However, after a few weeks of intense course readings and dynamic discussions, I found myself with more questions than answers! I quickly discovered the layers of complexity that lie beneath the surface of American education and was enthralled by the systems of inequality, that contribute to the challenges of public education, as well as the hard work of teachers and schools that point towards the promise that lies within schools. The following semester, I enrolled in Educating All Students and spent 4 hours a week working with a middle school student at Brunswick Junior High. A bright-eyed, seventh grade girl, she embodied the dichotomies and challenges we read about and discussed in class. My relationship with her enriched and complicated my understanding of how middle schoolers learn and view themselves in the classroom.

With a couple semesters of education under my belt, a professor of mine encouraged me to pursue a summer internship in the education field. With her support and counsel, I spent the summer before my junior year working as an Education Policy Research Intern at the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington D.C. During my internship, I attended hearings on Capitol Hill, lobbied for early childhood education legislation, and researched important issues surrounding school equity. My research focused predominantly on disproportionality in school discipline, disparities in school funding, and the implication of Common Core for poor children and children of color. This experience served as the perfect springboard into Doris Santoro’s Urban Education course, in which I’m currently enrolled.

While I do not know what the future holds, I know it must touch education in some way. I hope to teach, work on education policy, or act as a social worker in schools. Although schools are not sufficient to solve for systemic inequality, they are necessary. Through my coursework and conversations with education professors, I’ve come to learn what the state of education in the U.S. looks like, as well as imagine what it could be.