Master of Arts in Teaching, 2015
School of Education
March 1, 2015
“My love of literature influenced me to become an English teacher.”
During the early part of my childhood, my parents were missionaries, and we lived in Amsterdam, Holland. I moved back to California at the age of seven, where I spent the remainder of my childhood.
Throughout my entire life, I have always had a passion for travel. In the summer of 2006, I studied abroad in Madrid, Spain and then backpacked around Europe. In 2008, I studied abroad in Shanghai, China and then traveled throughout The Philippines. I graduated from UCLA in 2009 with a BA in Global Studies (cum laude). I was the recipient of the Global Studies Senior Thesis award for my thesis on Sex Trafficking in Asia. (Article)
After graduation, I volunteered teaching English in Battambang, Cambodia and then traveled around Southeast Asia, before moving to Seoul, South Korea to work as an English teacher. In December 2010, I moved back to California and eventually got a job as a financial recruiter in Los Angeles. I worked there for almost a year and a half before realizing that my true purpose in life was teaching. At that point, my now fiancé and I decided to quit our jobs, pack our bags, and backpack throughout China before moving to Phuket, Thailand, where we worked as English teachers. After our year contract ended, we traveled throughout India before heading back to California.
My four passions in life include teaching, traveling, reading, and writing. I am currently working on several novels that I hope to publish one day. My love of literature influenced me to become an English teacher. I am currently pursuing a Single Subject Credential in English with a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) at UCI. I am student teaching at Shorecliffs Middle School, which I absolutely love, and enjoying my courses at UCI. Upon graduation, I would love to find a teaching position at either a middle school or a high school.