Passion to Serve by Isaely

Passion to Serve by Isaely - July 2019 Scholarship Essay

On the brink of homelessness, my mother decided that the four of us (my two older sisters, my mother, and myself) would live at the Crossroads Motel close to my school and her job. My only possessions in that two bedroom motel room were a black trash bag filled with all of my clothes (we got one trash bag each), my school backpack, and my library card.

My mother worked for the public school system as a bus monitor for children with special needs and was required to clock-in to work by 5:30 AM. That meant, in order for my two older sisters and I to make it to school, we all had to be up by 4:00 AM. As a special favor, the director of the before-school morning program allowed my mother to drop me off at school at around 4:45 AM since the program did not officially open until much later. I wouldn’t go home until 6:00 PM.

As a diligent and gifted student, I somehow always managed to have free time on my hands. It was not uncommon for me to finish my classwork, get a pass to the Media Center, and on the rare occasion I had any spare pocket change, take a short detour to the vending machine in the teacher’s lounge on my way back to class. All the time I spent at school was not without its disadvantages after all, I was the school’s professional volunteer. From recycling as a Kiwanis Kid to helping teachers grade papers, the faculty and staff treated me as a valued team member.

A string of devastating hurricanes that caused a mass exodus of Spanish speaking students from all over the Caribbean to transfer to my school. Consequently, the only ESL class, taught by the only Spanish speaking educator among the teachers in my grade, reached maximum capacity. As a result, the overflow of ESL students became distributed among the remaining teachers. I was given special permission to interpret instructions and classroom content into Spanish in order to help facilitate the comprehension of coursework to the ESL students in my class. Ultimately, these experiences led me to pursue a career in education.
Currently, I am beginning a Master’s degree in International Education Development at the Teachers College at Columbia University with a focus on Family & Community Education in an effort to become an international education consultant working to develop social education programs in non-formal educative institutions.

My decision to invest in my professional development is deeply rooted in my background in non-profit work and the arts. My passion project, the Children’s Summer Art Camp, best demonstrates the type of community projects I hope to develop in the future. Collaborators such as the Orlando Museum of Art aligned with my vision to emphasize the use of creative learning pedagogues to teach modes of self-expression and develop literacy skills through the lens of art, history, and culture. It is imperative that we continue to nurture the multicultural and multilingual narratives of our international community while simultaneously fostering open lines of intercultural exchange.

Working at Pact of Faith has led me to volunteer at programs spearheaded by partners such as Second Harvest Food Bank, Wycliffe Bible Translators, and Operation Christmas Child.
As a member of the United Nations Association of Orlando I help facilitate public forums. The purpose of these forums is to create an open dialogue about issues that plague or international community and seek for ways to combat them locally. At my church, Faith Assembly, I am the assistant to the Spanish Sunday School instructor. I’m also an interpreter for Liberty Prayer Network for events such as the Better Man Event 2019 and Nathaniel’s Hope.

My passion is nothing without a plan to execute it. I intend to examine Non-formal education in the Ryukyu Arc, mostly found within Japan’s poorest prefecture, Okinawa Prefecture. I will apply for a Boren Fellowship in order to advance my Japanese language capabilities at the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies. Next, I will apply for a Fulbright Scholarship in order to become a researcher at the University of the Ryukyus. My research will further our collective understanding of the social changes and challenges (immigration, ageing population, human rights) affecting not only Japan, but other post-industrial societies outside of the context of developing countries.

The knowledge I am sure to gain from my stay in Japan will enable me to apply for a position as a Coordinator for International Relations for the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program where I will gain insight into how curricula are organized at the national level. Lastly, I will apply my experiences abroad by focusing on the development of community education programs at Pact of Faith Inc., a non-profit organization.

A passion for education writ large is a passion for seeking ways to combat the social inequalities that plague our international community