STORIES

As a high schooler, I knew I wanted to teach high school English Language Arts when I realized as that the class subject went beyond learning grammar or learning to read faster. I always debated whether I should major in History or English. Although, my teaching mission remained the same: I wanted to uplift the stories and spirits of those apart of the global majority to work toward healing for our communities carrying intergenerational traumas.

In my English classes, that is where I learned the most truth about people and the world around me. My history classes were often filled with reading secondary sources or summaries, but in my English classes I got to read primary texts. I didn’t just learn about HERstory or THEIRstory, I got to read it from the source themself. I am teaching English to rewrite the narrative, emphasize the danger of a single story, and to instill confidence in my students so they too can share their truth with the rest of the world.

I realized quickly in my college courses that not a lot of people had the same ideas about the power the English language holds. As a child of immigrants, who are native-Hindi speakers, I want to redefine what teaching English means and how we can remove power and control from the language. I am so glad I found NEXT Scholars because I get to engage in these invaluable conversations that will linger on my mind for a lifetime. Through NEXT, I am able to connect with like-minded spirits and through this connection, collective activism and education reform can truly occur!\

-Aryana

My history teachers saw something in me. They pulled me to the side. The said there’s something brighter in you. You’re smarter than this. I wanted a different path, and that path was school for me. Education was my ticket out.

Those teachers inspired me to go to school. I decided to go to Eastern. As a first-generation college student, I knew I had to go to school, I had to make a change.

It was a wakeup call. I saw what kind of teachers were needed in the education field. I saw what kind of educators we need to be. They need people like us to go in there and try to change that field. Don’t be something that you’re not. Be you.

— Willie

I started to identify superheroes as people who worked in my schools. Like my seventh-grade gym teacher who showed me how to value my community and how important my voice was. Or my high-school English teacher, who knew exactly how to support me when I was too scared to ask for help. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to be, but I knew I wanted to be like them.

Being an education major has helped me focus my vision of not just who I want to be as a teacher, but as a sister, as a classmate, as a friend, as a soul-mate.

I’ll never forget the feeling of being surrounded by people who want the same things for humanity as me, who want to help students who are like me, who were superheroes before the capes. I’ll never forget the way it felt to be part of a fellowship where I was so wholly supported and accepted.

– Hannah

My perception of what it means to be a teacher has changed since before and after I came to college.  When I got to college, being a teacher was the only thing I’d ever thought of, so that’s what I’m going to continue doing. And then you come to college and you realize, wow, I’ve been deprived of so much rich education in my life. This isn’t a profession, it’s a lifestyle. It’s something you dedicate your life to.

In my classes, I’d see a bunch of white people.  Not being represented has an effect on you. And it’s not one you recognize right away. It creeps up on you. And it hits you when you’re at the lowest.

I’m going to be the kind of teacher I wanted in high school. That I didn’t realize I could have until I came to college.  I’m going to be that teacher for my students.

Being a teacher, being an educator, being a leader, being a start to change is never meant to be easy. It never has been historically and it never will be in the future. So I decided that I will not let underrepresentation deter me from achieving a position that fosters women and minorities first-generation college students, immigrants and Muslim women to follow their dreams.

– Aisha