Diversity Experiences
Pride Incorporated
I had the privilege of working as a Youth Mentor for Pride Incorporated from 2011-2014. Before my experience at Pride I was completely unaware of how many children grow up differently than me and how many families are effected by a plethora of disabilities, disorders, addictions, and foster care, among other things. I worked with children ages 3-21 in hopes to reach their varying goals that would include social skills, independent skills, learning and academic skills, and much, much more. I spent much of my time working with children with intellectual, learning, and emotional disabilities and was challenged emotionally, mentally, and physically. As a youth mentor I was able to create very strong relationships with the children and families I was working with; many of the families opened their homes and were more than willing to allow me to assist in creating meaningful experiences for their child. I was exposed to the hardships many children and families experience in our city from not having appropriate care to not being able to receive certain medical attention. This experience allowed me to develop a strong sense of patience, empathy, and sympathy; as well as becoming very compassionate. I had never known I had a passion for working with individuals with disabilities until my experience at Pride. In the three years I spent working at Pride I became a different, better person and truly found my love for special education.
Missouri River Educational Cooperative Extended School Program
From 2014-2016 I held the position as Site Coordinator for the Missouri River Educational Program at Saxvik Elementary School. I am very grateful for the opportunities offered to me through this program and at Saxvik. I often spent time throughout the school day assisting in classrooms and helping teachers whenever possible. I was able to have firsthand experience in classroom management skills and how to change the way a teacher can present material to individual students. During after school hours I spent time supervising students and staff, assisting students with homework, and creating activities and lessons for students to participate in. I was able to create strong relationships with students and their families through the extended school program, as well as learned the importance of needing to be a strong advocate for individual students and families.
Jeanette Myhre Elementary School
Currently, I work as an Instructional Aide at Jeanette Myhre Elementary School. Before this experience I had never known the compassion and passion I have for assisting students from a lower socioeconomic background. I find myself daily feeling so grateful that I am able to be a part of this wonderful school and work with all of the superb staff there, ranging from all of the support staff to the principal. I specifically work with kindergarten and first grade students with intellectual and learning disabilities. This experience has helped me find strategies to assist students with numerous needs. I have learned how important it is to be flexible and prepared when working with students with disabilities and how essential it is to create relationships with students.
Family Mentorship Program
In this experience I worked with a Physical Therapy student to interact with a young girl with cerebral palsy and her family. We spent time in their family home learning about how cerebral palsy has effected their family. I was able to also learn about her likes and dislikes, as well as spent time watching her therapies and participated in different activities she liked to do for fun.
Other Experiences
I attended Temple Grandin, a motivational speaker with Autism, at Mandan Middle School. I was very impressed with the insight on how it is to live with having Autisum that Temple was able to provide all of us attending.