About Me

[Image Description: I am standing in front of my desk and smiling. I am wearing a beige short-sleeved t-shirt with an olive green long sleeve t-shirt underneath it, a gold crucifix chain necklace, black leggings, chestnut colored Uggs, and a white headband with my shoulder length, curly, dark brown hair down. My t-shirt says, "TEACH THEM, LOVE THEM, WATCH THEM GROW" in curvy center-aligned black decal above colorful floral designs with "TEACHER" in center-aligned medium pink, light pink, dark yellow, light olive green, and medium orange decal bubble letters below it with "Ms. Hoff" in center-aligned cursive black decal. My desk is white with 2 storage containers filled with classroom supplies, 4 tape dispensers, a mini cylinder container of disinfectant wipes, a pink hole puncher, a globe shaped wood block sign that says, "Explore Dream Discover" in center-aligned cursive white text on it, a succulent plant, a colorful painted rock, and several stacked tissue packs on top of it. There are 100 "NUMBERS" chart, white walls, and dark blue closet doors with student Social Skills classwork attached to them in the background.]

    My name is Emily (she/her/hers) and I was the first ever President of Lower Moreland High School’s Buddy Club, a club for supporting and being a friend to the Life Skills students (students with intellectual and developmental disabilities) in the school district. When I was in ninth grade, I was telling one of my teachers about my plans to volunteer in the dementia unit at Saint Joseph's Manor within Holy Redeemer Hospital. This teacher recommended that I join our school’s Buddy Club since she saw my love for supporting others. I was a member of Buddy Club for all four years of high school, and I am still involved and dedicated to Buddy Club even as an alumnus. After only two months of being a buddy, Buddy Club changed my life forever and confirmed my career path of wanting to become a Life Skills Support teacher. In eleventh and twelfth grade, I was elected as the first ever Buddy Club President. Being Buddy Club President made my love for helping the disability community grow even stronger and I declared Buddy Club as my happy place that school year.

[Image Description: Group picture with the students from Lower Moreland Township School District's Life Skills Support classes at the Huntingdon Valley Fire Company for a field trip during Extended School Year (ESY) program in summer 2018]

    In twelfth grade, I started and managed a Facebook page for Buddy Club. After my term was over after high school graduation in 2016, ownership of the page was transferred over to the next Buddy Club President. So, I planned to create my own disability advocate influencer page to continue posting publicly about spreading awareness, acceptance, and inclusion of the disability community and the continuous advocacy work that I do on social media other than doing so on my personal accounts and offline. My disability advocate influencer page launched in April 2017. I love Buddy Club so much that I returned to LMHS' Life Skills Support classroom to complete my Field Experience in Special Education internship for my Bachelor's Degree in fall 2023. Then, in April 2024, after I finished my student teaching in first grade at another school, I returned back to LMHS' Life Skills Support classroom to volunteer for the rest of the school year and during the summer portion of their Extended School Year (ESY) program while job searching and working towards finishing becoming state certified in teaching.

[Image Description: Group picture with my high school students in Life Skills Support in the kitchen in their classroom at the surprise graduation party that they threw for me before getting my Bachelor's Degree in May 2024]

[Image Description: Group picture with Horizons at Bowlero (formerly called Brunswick Zone) in 2016]

    Besides Buddy Club, I volunteer for Horizons, which is a social support group for teens and adults in the disability community in Bryn Athyn, PA, and Autism Cares Foundation. I am also a motivational speaker and an Advisory Board Member of Bucks County Community College Newtown campus's An Autism College Innovation for Educational and Vocational Excellence (AACHIEVE) program. AACHIEVE is a transition program for autistic college students/college students with autism/Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)/college students on the autism spectrum. I also have a stutter and do not want anyone to feel sorry for me because it is okay to be different, my stutter does not make me any less of a person, and I take a lot of pride in this diverse part of me by embracing it.

[Image Description: A newspaper from the Courier Times dated Tuesday, January 7, 2020 with the headline "Autism Cares Foundation celebrates holidays." There are 4 photos from Autism Cares Foundation's Holiday Party in December 2017 in this newspaper.]

[Image Description: My friend Reilly and I at Autism Cares Foundation's Holiday Party in December 2024]

[Image Description: A picture of me outside at Bucks County Community College's Newtown campus after guest speaking at AACHIEVE orientation in summer 2024]

    In addition, I have my Associate's Degree in Early Childhood Education PreK-4 from Bucks County Community College, Child Development Associate (CDA) certification, and CPR certification. I also graduated with my dual Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood (PreK-4) Special Education (PreK-12) from Bryn Athyn College in May 2024! I became a paraeducator/Personal Care Assistant (PCA) in 4th-6th grade Intensive Care Support (the equivalent of Life Skills Support with a different program name) at Murray Avenue School within Lower Moreland Township School District this past fall! I am in my seventh year of teaching.

    I have a strong desire to pursue opportunities and have a career related to educating students in the disability community, especially within Life Skills Support. I am also passionate about teaching lessons about diversity, inclusion, and Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) along with utilizing Trauma-Informed Care and Education and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) practices in classrooms while meeting each student where they are at as individuals. The topics of my advocacy posts include the volunteer work that I do, disability awareness, culture, and pride, inclusion, mental health, trauma, and healing, issues in education and disability rights, teaching, and child and adolescent development.

    I love to connect with other educators, professionals, families, and advocates on my disability advocate influencer page. I am so excited that you chose to join this community and follow my continuous journey as a disability advocate and Special Educator! If anyone ever has any questions or feedback, please feel free to DM/email me or leave comments on my posts and I will answer as many people as possible ASAP! I would love to hear from anyone and look forward to connecting with each other! 🫶🏻🧠🧩♾️🦻🏽🧑🏿‍🦼🦾🦿🫀🫁🐕‍🦺🦮❤️🩵💞✨

[Image Description: Miss Delaware Teen 2024 Kayla Kosmalski and I standing out of the Lincoln Financial Field at the National Down Syndrome Society's (NDSS) Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Buddy Walk 2024]

[Image Description: Tom Murt when he was Pennsylvania State Representative, my friend Kayla, and I in Lower Moreland High School's cafeteria in 2015]

Honors & Awards:

•Lower Moreland High School May Student of the Month 2013

•Paul B. Synnestvedt Memorial Award 2016

•Children of America Southampton May Teacher of the Month 2019

•Bucks County Community College's Dean's List - Awarded for Fall Semester 2019 & graduated with Latin Honors in May 2021

•Bryn Athyn College's Dean's Scholarship - Awarded November 2020

•Bryn Athyn College's Dean's List - Awarded in 2022, 2023, 2024 & graduated with Latin Honors in May 2024

[Image Description: "FIRST FORMER BUDDY CLUB PRESIDENT" in center-aligned bold italicized black text in a big light blue heart. There are also many dark red hearts with a lighter blue background that the big light blue heart is overlapping.]