Living an Impact-Focused Life
What’s your Why?
I believe I was put on this earth to:
disrupt the status quo. As a young child, I felt like I was pushed to improve in areas where I was lacking but never encouraged to excel in areas of strength. As a young in-class support aide I was torn between not helping the students I was supporting enough (according to the special education teacher) and doing their work for them (according to the regular education teacher). I’ve always felt on the fringe and I’ve found myself drawn to the same. I love teaching the “tough” kids. I love seeing the spark as they finally get it. When I started, I taught by force, you can lead a horse to water, but you can make him drink. If you hold his head under long enough, he’ll take a sip or drown. When it worked, it worked quickly. I’m a lot more patient now, although there are times I’d like to hold someone’s head under to get them to see the error of their ways sooner rather than later. It’s hard to be patient when you see a young person with so much potential, in a bad situation, making really, really bad decisions. Tender but tough. Forcefully understanding. I believe I was put on this earth to make the square pegs feel like they fit in and to help children find their passion.
My purpose is to:
Teach everyone I meet something new. Leave them with memories of me that make them smile. It’s taken me two decades (has it really been that long) to learn that I was right all along. I am fine the way I am and so is everyone else. My purpose is to show children that everyone is different and it is our differences that make us the same. I want people to be better for having known me.
I believe (my core values):
That everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. We all strive to be seen as an individual and we all want to be part of a group. It’s rewarding to be recognized for individual achievement but it’s comforting to know that others “know how you feel”. Encouragement raises people up and criticism holds them down and it is very important to see things in context and not make rash decisions based on first impressions. You can’t “judge a book by its cover”, but you can get a general idea. The trick is not to stop at the cover and read the whole book–or at least the first few chapters.
The one thing I must do before I die is…
The older I get, the shorter my list gets. There are places I want to see. I would love to travel around the world showing people how to use The Nester Protocol to reach every child. All it takes to make education succeed is passion. Kids who want to learn are easy to teach, the hard part is convincing them they want to learn.
My advocates and supporters all believe I:
Do what I say I will do and expect the same of others
The evil I want to eradicate in this world is:
Ignorance. I believe that ignorance is the root of all of the misunderstandings that are the basis for most arguments. Ignorance and intolerance.
I want to work in order to:
Help people learn and become contributing, critical-thinking members of our world community.
Walk the Talk – Your How
If you are truly committed to your Why, you show it in your everyday behavior. It is all air until you do it. Working from your Why, How do you prove that you are true to your Why in all you do?
I always:
Do what I say I will do to the best of my ability. I hate doing things wrong. I would rather ask a thousand questions before I do something and do it right the first time than apologize for doing it wrong and fixing a mistake.
I never:
Like to give up on something or someone.
My work style is:
Driven by authenticity. I like for people I work with to feel appreciated and supported.
I try to treat people:
How I would want to be treated (the golden rule of course)
I approach problems by:
Looking at the big picture first and working backwards to find a solution. I like to consult others to try to get different perspectives of the same problem.
Victories are time to:
Celebrate and reflect.
If another attacks my point of view I:
Do my best to listen and try to understand how their point of view is different from my own. Although this wasn’t always so. I used to get angry when someone would attack my point of view. Now, I think I understand my point of view is just my point of view and can’t really get hurt if someone attacks it. I’ve also learned quite a lot by listening to those who would attack.
If I fundamentally do not agree with what an organization or person is doing, I will:
Probably not keep my mouth shut and speak up for what I think is right. I would also do my best to understand why the person or organization is behaving so fundamentally differently than I would in the same situation. Again, perspective and information often lead to agreement and understanding.
Your Credibility – Your Whats
You have just spent some considerable time at Lehigh, and specifically in the Global Social Impact Fellowship, on many whats. Your whats include lab research, formal presentations, writing research papers, engaging with people in other cultural contexts, building prototypes, designing and building systems, raising funds, hiring employees, etc. The whats you have collected along the way are critical to your credibility when you are entering the workforce or applying to the best graduate and professional schools. They signify a credible currency to which organizations can assign value. Create a list of your Whats that are truly reflective of your Why & How. You did these things because you believe (Why) and you acquired them in the following (How) manner. These are examples you can use in interviews.
| What Have I Done |
List of Experiences, Accomplishments, and Lessons Learned |
| Degrees, Minors, Certificates, Fellowships |
BS. Exercise science—Ithaca College
English/Teaching certificate—Moravian College
Supervisors certificate—Kean College
Master’s Sp.Ed/teaching certificate—Lehigh University
Graduate student in Instructional technology–Lehigh University
Lehigh Valley Social Impact Fellow |
| Research Experiences
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Community Choices—services for adults with disabilities
Parents Plus–data collection/classroom observations
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| Inventions and Innovations
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The Nester Protocol–a method of using a child’s interest to teach a multidisciplinary curriculum (in development)
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| (Social) Entrepreneurial Ventures
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JoSam Designs–one-of-a-kind designs created and sold to benefit children on the autism spectrum.
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| Publications
(Formal and Informal)
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An Immersive Virtual Reality Game Designed to Assess Environmental Learning
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| Formal Presentations
(at Lehigh and Beyond)
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2019 iLRN Spring conference |
| Awards and
External Recognition
|
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Articulating and learning from GSIF-related Experiences. For each of these prompts, we want you to identify one and only one specific and compelling event/incident/experience/moment and identify exactly how you grew personally and professionally through that moment.
| Teamwork Experience
(and Lessons Learned)
|
During one particularly creative Zoom, Beige was summarizing what Junior and I were explaining so precisely that I had to stop and tell her what a great job she was doing. It was amazing to see my ideas on paper so succinctly. I felt smarter because of how well she summarized what I was saying. I learned a very important lesson that day and I now let her do more of the talking in our group. A group can be merely the sum of its parts, or, when the group functions well, it can be so much more. Being the oldest member of a group is a new experience for me. I’m used to being the teacher at the front of the room. Being a member of a team requires different skills and uses different “muscles”.
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| Conflict Resolution Experience
(and Lessons Learned) |
I don’t know that we had any conflicts. We were all on the same page most of the time. We had differences of opinions in a few areas, but we presented all options to our partners and let them decide. I learned to keep my mouth shut and listen to the expertise of others. I didn’t speak often, but when I did, I wanted to make it count. |
| Leadership Experience
(and Lessons Learned)
|
I learned how to let others take the lead. It was hard for me to get out of the way sometimes, when I felt like we were supposed to be going in one direction and my teammates were going in a different direction. I had to step back and not know everything already and let others discover for themselves. As I watched others learn, I found myself seeing from their perspective and learning more than I thought possible. The woman who knows not that she knows not, knows nothing. But the woman who knows that she knows not, knows all. |
| Dealing with Chaos, Ambiguity, and Uncertainty (and Lessons Learned) |
Meditation helped a lot. |
| Personally Challenging Experience (and Lessons Learned)
|
I do not like doing things wrong or not living up to expectations and it was very difficult to adjust to the all remote learning. It gave me a really good perspective from a student’s point of view and I believe it has made me a better teacher. I feel like I am more understanding when students miss class or don’t turn in assignments. Working remotely is different–more difficult for some than others. A little empathy goes a long way with high school freshman. |
| Cross-cultural Experience (and Lessons Learned)
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Even though LVSIF wasn’t an international program, working with Junior (a native Brazilian) and Beigie (a college sophomore) was certainly a cross-cultural experience for me. The age difference between the three of us was substantial, but I felt as though our project progressed better because of the vastly different perspectives each of us was able to give. Beige is an example of the “digital native” for whom we are designing our program, so it was great to experience the development from her point of view. |
| An experience that helped you connect your GSIF work to your discipline / major.
|
This summer I remember sitting on my back deck when a spotted lantern fly nymph walked across my keyboard. I knew it was a spotted lantern fly nymph because of the work I have been doing for a project related to LVSIF, so I promptly smacked it–and several of its siblings–with my swatter. I then went on to show my neighbors how to spot and kill them on their property and now we have a neighborhood SLF watch team.
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| A moment that boosted your sense of agency and self-efficacy – you felt like you can speak for yourself, get stuff done, take on the world and make it better.
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Covid 19 and the move to remote/hybrid learning in public school across the nation completely validated the two years I have spent learning about instructional technology. I knew it was a better use of time to teach students how to use their devices for good than trying to limit their screen time. Having teachers now come to ask me how to integrate this new technology into their classrooms has been incredibly exciting. Instead of spending time trying to convince my colleagues that technology will only enhance education, I am now spending my time showing them how to integrate the technology into their lessons every day. |
| A moment where you felt like you truly have a strong sense of purpose and belonging in this dynamic, globalized interdependent world.
|
I am so excited by the evolution of education in this new, lockdown environment. They say necessity is the mother of invention, but I think in this case, necessity caused the implementation of the inventions that have been years–decades–in the making. I have been developing a Digital Outcomes Based Educational protocol since I completed my first Master’s degree at Lehigh. I can’t see education sliding back into the same old, same old once Covid restrictions have been lifted. I hope teachers continue to see the opportunities available with hybrid classes and the sheer number of students they will be able to reach in this new age of Digital Education. |