My Personal Statement Essay to Bryn Athyn College
Quote I chose: "A place is provided in heaven for all who lead good lives, no matter what their religion may be." -Emmanuel Swedenborg"
From my perspective, I look at people based on the things that they do in their lives because actions define our character. As an advocate for humanity, I am diversity friendly so I accept everyone of all differences on an individual basis, no matter who they are. To be an advocate, I spread awareness, acceptance, and am inclusive. What spreading awareness means to me educating myself and others about all differences to celebrate diversity. What spreading acceptance means to me is looking past all people's differences and realizing that they do not define them because it is only a part of them and there are plenty of other great qualities about them.
From starting in high school to present, I have lots of volunteer and work experience in fields dedicated to helping others. In ninth grade, when I was telling one of my teachers about my plans to volunteer in a dementia unit, she recommended that I join our school's Buddy Club because she saw my love for helping others. Buddy Club is a club for helping and being a friend to the Life Skills students in the school district. After only two months of being a buddy, the club immediately changed my life forever by confirming my career path of wanting to become a Life Skills Support teacher and developing my passion of advocating for the special needs community. In eleventh and twelfth grade, I was elected as the first ever Buddy Club President. Being Buddy Club President made my love for the cause grow even stronger. I am still involved in Buddy Club even as an alumni and participate in many other volunteer experiences for helping people with disabilities. In addition to Buddy Club, I volunteer for Horizons, which is a special needs group run by the Bryn Athyn Church, and Autism Cares Foundation and have a special needs advocacy blog. On my blog, I post about my continuous experience in Buddy Club, as an alumni, other volunteer experiences, advocacy, and journey as an aspiring Special Education teacher.
In regards to my educational background, I took a child development course in high school to fulfill the requirements to obtain my Child Development Associate (CDA) certification. My high school, Lower Moreland High School, did not offer any courses for budding Early Childhood Education teachers; when brought to my guidance counselor's attention that I wished our school did offer this, she worked out a plan where I got bused to Upper Moreland High School every day to take their two-year child development course. The first year of the course was the theory and in the second year, I participated in a practicum lab in a preschool classroom in a childcare center. I was the first student in my school district to go out of district to take a course and I earned my CDA in November 2018. This credential certifies me to take care of and teach all infants, toddlers, and preschoolers and I am currently an assistant toddler teacher to eighteen to twenty-four month olds. In addition to my CDA, I plan to graduate with my Associate's degree in Early Childhood Education from Bucks County Community College in this May.
Through all of my volunteer and work experiences in my career field, I have learned many valuable lessons. Volunteering taught me more about all differences, acceptance, and inclusion. I have also gained many positive professional skills and met many positive people through volunteering who started and are involved in organizations, my advisor for Buddy Club in high school, and volunteer services at Holy Redeemer. These people have been my mentors because they chose selfless occupations for helping people. Volunteering through opportunities to help children and people of all abilities and differences and working in the education field is an amazing experience.
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