I was always that child that wanted to become everything and anything.  As a child I wanted to be a nurse, artist, chef, actor, singer, doctor, lawyer, FBI agent, homemaker, Preschool teacher, and many more that I cannot recollect anymore.  I think you get the point: I wanted to be everything I could become.  As I look into the careers that interested me, there is an common factor in all of them: they all work with helping or bringing joy to people one way or another.  The biggest reason I wanted to become a teacher and decided to become one also relies in the fact that I wanted to be an educator that influenced the lives of struggling teenagers within and outside my classroom walls.  So if I were to ponder on what I would want to be if I wasn’t a teacher, I still find myself listing a million things that I aspire to be.

However, there is one thing that I think currently, as a professional in her 20s, would want to do: travel the world while working. To be more specific, work with building better orphanage systems in impoverished countries.  I have always had a desire to work with children and especially those that are in need.  Working in Brooklyn my first few years of teaching has also allowed me to see the needs of children in homes that are not exactly the most ideal.  Upon researching about foster care systems and orphanage systems, it is my personal belief that with the right amount of educational and financial support, orphanages that take on full care-taker responsibilities (including the child’s education) for their entire childhood raise more successful children than those who may be tossed around in foster care systems.  With that said, I would like to be able to work to build a lasting, supportive system that also provides good educational support for their children.

One specific place that I would like to do this in is Thailand. Thailand does not have a good political system to protect their children and the human trafficking of these children are a common sight.  Many times these children are rescued by various organizations that are linked to orphanages that they are sent to for care, but due to lacking educational background and support, children are either left with poor life skills to continue to survive or left with frustration from not being able to catch up to the learning skill level of their peers.  These endangered children are the future leaders of their country, yet the proper support to protect them is frighteningly scarce.  I never thought I’d find myself wanting to advocate endangered children of other countries, but my love for traveling seems to match perfectly with my desire to work with orphans, and I hope to be able to pursue at least part of my dream (alongside my teaching career) as I grow older!