I serve, because an individualized, high-quality education should be a right, and not a privilege, for all children.
I made my “I Serve” statement during City Year’s opening ceremony, which marked the beginning of my year as an AmeriCorps member in Manchester, New Hampshire. After graduating high school, I worked for over 1700 hours as a tutor and mentor to a class of at-risk third-graders in Northwest Elementary School. My work included providing small group tutoring in Math and English, coaching students about behavior and attendance, organizing whole-school events with other AmeriCorps members stationed at Northwest, and providing support to the teacher in my classroom.
My work with City Year taught me important skills related to classroom instruction, such as lesson planning, behavior management, differentiating instruction, and mentorship. However, this experience has been especially meaningful for me because of the many skills I learned that could be transferred to any domain. Working with eight and nine-year-olds taught me to engage in creative problem-solving when things didn’t go according to plan; de-escalating situations where my kids felt overwhelmed made me calmer under pressure and more comfortable with conflict resolution.
City Year inspired my passion for public health, because I was heartbroken by the number of social barriers that impaired my students’ physical and emotional wellbeing. From food insecurity to lack of access to healthcare to unhygienic housing, I came to understand how poverty can be a death sentence in the United States. I believe that helping people be well is one of the most profound ways to create social impact, so I became committed to addressing domestic health disparities.
Sample lesson plans that I designed for my students: