The foundations of my interest in education began forming at age 7, when much to my social life’s dismay, I transformed my bedroom into a classroom, and began spending every waking moment at home "teaching" my dolls and stuffed animals. Every night I would type up, print out, and administer endless spelling, history, and math tests, despite my parents' weekly complaints of a computer paper shortage. (I was not a very "green" child). As I grew older, my dolls and stuffed animals were slowly boxed up and moved to the back of my closet, but my passion for teaching only multiplied.
In middle school I began working as a tutor for an elementary school, and my high school years introduced me to what I now know as my purpose for being - speech therapy. As a freshman, I began volunteering as a special education teacher's assistant, helping students with special needs attain everything from reading and math comprehension to the knowledge and successful use of practical community resources. It was here that I was first exposed to the field of speech-language pathology, and its crucial role in the education and fostering of life skills in students with special needs. My time spent in these classes was a period of tremendous emotional and intellectual growth for me, as they provided me with a place where I could escape from the negative judgments and incessant superficiality found throughout the rest of my high school. For those four years, I was immersed in arguably the single most rewarding experience I have come by thus far in life. By the time I was a graduating senior, I was more convinced than ever that my future career would be in special education, and, more specifically, speech therapy.
In community college I was able to combine both my love for teaching and students with special needs by becoming a tutor for my college's Disabled Students and Services office. I also began working as a therapist for an Applied Behavior Analysis company that introduced me to the population that I would find the most pleasure working with - those on the autism spectrum. As I worked with these children at their elementary schools, I was able to see first-hand the excitement and affection they possessed for not only their classroom teachers, but also for various therapists (speech, physical, occupational, etc). In my time spent observing countless speech therapy sessions, I became intrigued and influenced by one particular speech-language pathologist’s enduring knowledge and passion. She consistently challenged any and all conventional, tedious connotations from the word “therapy” that may have initially been present in students’ or parents’ minds. I cannot thank her enough for inspiring both an enthusiasm and strong determination in my personal plan towards becoming a speech-language pathologist.
As my second year at community college came to an end, I knew I was ready to embark upon my own speech-pathology path, so I applied as a transfer student to the Communicative Disorders department at San Francisco State University. Studying in San Francisco has offered me an incredible depth of knowledge pertaining to not only the basics in the field of speech-language pathology, but also the special education system as a whole: how it has evolved and is continuing to evolve into a more progressive, understanding, and empowering field. For over a year, I have been working as a paraprofessional teacher's aide in the San Francisco Unified School District, a placement that has provided me with invaluable experience working with children with various special needs, including speech therapy. With the school district I’ve also had the opportunity to witness the different processes that a public school system’s special education department undergoes, including IEP meetings, the making and updating of evaluation reports, and the integration of specific student goals into a classroom’s coursework. My extensive background working with school-age children with special needs has undoubtedly prepared me for a prospective future as a public school speech-language pathologist.
My undergraduate years at SFSU have provided me with the educational foundations of speech therapy, a job working directly with populations I will be serving in the future, and vast experience volunteering both locally and internationally. In addition to multiple years working with local organizations like Volunteers of America and Special Olympics Northern California, I have recently volunteered for San Francisco’s Support for Families of Children with Disabilities and my college’s NSSHLA (National Student Speech Hearing and Language Association) branch. By far my most valuable time spent volunteering has been my time spent internationally with the International Volunteer Headquarters (IVHQ). The summer before I came to study at San Francisco State, I traveled to Sri Lanka with IVHQ, where I worked in a classroom of students on the autism spectrum disorder for two months. This trip opened my eyes and heart to an incredibly fascinating, absorbing culture, and I gained vital experience, awareness, and appreciation for my life at home. This past summer I spent one month in Peru, where I volunteered in a school for children with special needs and was able to improve my Spanish in my spare time.
The importance of multicultural insight and appreciation cannot be overstated, especially in a community as diverse as San Francisco. It is an honor to live in a city that boasts the unfaltering acceptance and support of many underrepresented minority groups in our country. I feel even more blessed to have the chance to apply my own personal knowledge and experience from my involvement in life abroad to my current and prospective educational training and career.
I believe that every person on this planet is a world citizen, and by definition owes their surrounding community, big or small, unending determination and passion to improve everyone’s life experience. Albert Einstein once said, “Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.” This quote has become somewhat of a main motto in my life. As a prospective speech-language pathologist, it is my duty to my community, country, and world to willingly provide my knowledge, skills, and love and desire for life-long learning for all to benefit from.
As a graduate school applicant to San Francisco State University, I would be honored to continue my “world citizen” story at a university that lies at the heart of a wonderfully diversified city that is bursting with positive potential.