Scott Saunders
EXPLORE - Throughout my life, I guess I have been helping my community in one form or another. Both my parents worked in nonprofit and instilled in me to help others and to be a part of the community. I explored helping others by volunteering at a nursing home in which my mother worked at for over 35 years. In highschool, I started working at a teen center and continued my community service. After college, I wanted to make a difference by getting involved in politics and worked for two Member of Congress. However, I did not feel like I was making a difference that I could see first hand, so decided to move back to NY and went to NYU for teaching. After 9/11, I realized life was short and I wanted to make a difference on a smaller scale and to be a part of something.
CREATE - I loved creating art projects. While at NYU, I was taught using the History Alive approach that teaches educators to make learning fun, interactive as well as help students express themselves through multiple intelligences. Instead of writing old fashioned reports, students should express themselves in projects that make learning fun. One of my favorite activities was creating a comicstrip storyboard in which showed how the Civil War was inevitable by allowing the reader to choose an option or decision
ACHIEVE - I think I am most proud of being involved in my community and trying to assist students with learning and helping children mature into adults. I was inspired by teachers that went out of their way to help me during middle school. I remember Ms. Roberta making two lunches so she could give me one and Principal Forget helping check over my homework since my mother was in night school and Mrs. Dowd making sure I was involved in weekend activities. They taught me that teaching is much more than just teaching in the classroom. It is about being involved and helping children throughout their lives. Some achievements in college were that I was elected Class President for four years which helped me grow as a person. Also, it enabled me to stay involved in the community as well as the on campus daycare center that I volunteered at during my first few year of college. A major achievement after I graduated college was working as a Congressional Aide in a Congressional office in Washington DC. The one piece of advice I can give a middle schoolers is that your time in middle school and high school will pass by before you know it. You need to move towards independence because in a few years, you will become adults and will be in charge of your own destiny.