I’m excited about learning and having fun in fourth grade

Have you thought about what you want to be when you grow up?

I don’t know really. I have a lot of ideas of what I’m going to be when I grow up. Like a dancer, a singer, a contortionist.

Why a contortionist?

Because I’m very flexible already and I’ve seen Sofie Dossi. She’s the reason why I wanted to do contortion. The first video I watched of her I saw her do contortion stuff and then I fell in love with contortion, so I’m trying to do more of it.

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Your shirt says “stay curious.” What are you curious about?

What will next school year be like.

And what do you think it will be like? What are you excited about?

Meeting new people and making new friends.

Have you thought about what kind of job you might like to have?

An astronaut…so I can study the stars.

What do you like about the stars and outer space?

That it’s so beautiful. I want to explore Pluto.

Did I hear that’s no longer a planet?

It’s a dwarf planet.

What about Mars? People may go to Mars. Do you want to go to Mars?

Hmmm… I’ll think it over.

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I like going in the pool because I like to swim underwater. I have a new snorkel and I have this mask to cover my eyes and my nose. I have a snorkel that’s clear. You put it your mouth, then breathe – up and down. I did that before for a long time.

Like the other day, my sister took me out. I went underwater and then I breathed through my snorkel, and then when I got out then I said, “How was that?” And she said, “Good.”

What grade are you going to be in next year?

Third grade.

No, actually first grade. September 4 I will be in first grade. Then, after a longer time, I will be in third grade. Then fourth grade, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth.

What are you excited about for first grade?

When we go out to the park, we get to go out to the monkey bars. When we were in kindergarten, we couldn’t.

Have you thought about what kind of job you might like to have when you’re older?

A teacher.

Why do you want to be a teacher?

Because I like to learn and tell everyone what to do.

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I actually got started with service dogs with my family. My mother heard about it and thought: ‘Oh this is an interesting way to kind of give back to the community.’ I was in kindergarten, I believe, when we got our first dog. We have raised nine dogs over the past 25 or so years. Quill is the fifth dog we’ve raised for Canine Companions for Independence (CCI). They deal largely with mobility-related issues, people in wheelchairs with prosthetic limbs, but they can do pretty much any type of dog for whatever disability. We’ve also raised four dogs for Guiding Eyes for the Blind. Quill is with us until November. We get the puppies when they are 8 weeks old. Most all of the organizations have the puppies raised in volunteer homes. We keep them for about a year-and-a-half. He will then go back to the regional facility in New York and there he will have about six months of professional training. So we’ve taught him the basics. We’ve gotten him socialized. They will take what we’ve done and then build upon that. It’s almost like he’s going off to college. At that point, he will see if he passes and they will place him with a person.

What if he doesn’t pass?

It’s about a 50 percent failure rate because it’s such a demanding program. We had a dog that failed because he was afraid of heights; he wouldn’t go up and down stairs. We’ve had dogs that show anxiety and you can’t really have that – it’s really not fair for the dog. We get the first right of return. If he does not pass, then we can adopt him as his raisers, but if we choose not to, then he will get adopted out. They have a very long waiting list because you’re getting an older dog; usually about a year old who is very well trained and just for whatever reason – it could be a medical issue – it doesn’t work for their program. So the dog can go for public adoption at that point.

What type of training did Quill go through while he was with you?

One of big things that we want done for these dogs is getting them used to different experiences. Just coming to work here with me, he gets to be on an elevator, he gets to be around printers and copiers and there’s all of these people around – a lot is going on. So when he goes out to his working life, there is no situation that is new to him. He’s heard planes going overhead, sirens and all kinds of things. He’s also been to school where my mom works, so he’s been around kids and all sorts of different experiences.

Are you going to get another dog?

We might. We generally take a little break between dogs because it’s a lot of work. I mean, it’s really great and when you go and see them graduate, is it such an amazing experience, but still it’s a puppy that you’ll be getting again. Every couple of hours he has to go out and he doesn’t sleep all night. If we did get another dog we would probably wait until summer when I’m off and we can devote more time.

Would you recommend this to anybody else?

It’s fun to do, but it’s also feeling like you can make a difference. People always ask, ‘Isn’t it hard to give the dog up?’ but to me it isn’t. To me, he’s going to be a pet and he’s going to be a very nice dog that I can take on walks. It’s going to change somebody’s life and I get to see this happen. I have made that happen. The first dog that we raised went to a boy, I think 17 or so, with cerebral palsy. He’s never walked a day in his life and here I am; I’m perfectly healthy. We had another boy who was in kindergarten who had spina bifida. These people need these animals.

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I like when we go outside and play.

Why do you like that part of school?

Because there is a big playground. I think my favorite part is the monkey bars and the pole you slide down.

What else makes you happy?

Does it have to be about school?

No, it can be anything.

It makes me happy when I’m with my sister and she plays with me. She’s 1. I’m teaching her to do stuff like I do stuff. So, she’s playing Barbies with me…I always have somebody to play Barbies and Shopkins and American Girl Dolls with.

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I’m looking forward to meeting the kids, the community, all the parents, all the teachers – we’ve already had some opportunities to meet with a few teachers and still have some more coming up now. It’s really just being able to create a vision that’s around students and helping them grow and be successful – and not just here, but putting things in place for them to be successful when they get to high school. I think it helps that I have the high school experience and know what the expectations are to be able to implement that here.

The teachers that I’ve met and all the stories that have been told, everyone is all hands on deck – “What  do you need me to do” – and everybody is willing to do what’s needed for kids, which is awesome. It makes it exciting.

Do you have a favorite memory from your own school years?

I graduated from Bayside. I went to Luxford for a year when I came to Virginia Beach, and then I went to Bettie F. Williams, Bayside Middle School and Bayside High School. I’ve been a big guy for a long time. I’ve been six-foot-whatever since…I don’t know how long. Everybody said, “Oh, you want to play football? Oh, you want to play basketball?” When I got into high school, I played football and I didn’t really enjoy it that much. I didn’t really enjoy going to study hall, and down the hall was the chess club. I learned how to play chess when I was in elementary school. There was a guy in our neighborhood. He had computerized chess boards. It was cool because when you had to move, it would tell you where to move the piece and that’s just what you had to do. I learned how to play from him and we’d go over there and he would let us use the chess boards – my brothers and I would play. I didn’t really take it too seriously. I just knew how to play.

So, I’m this big guy walking in (to play chess) and people just think, “Oh.”  And I’m like, “Oh no, I’m good!” That was the best thing. We went to a lot of tournaments. Mark Bland was the German teacher and he was the chess coach. We went to the World Open in Philadelphia. We went to the nationals. We went to the state championships every year. We did a lot of chess tournaments, and I used to love walking in – parents are always there because of their kids and stuff, and here’s this big guy walking in, sitting at table 1 in the front. That was the greatest because I love to do things that people think I can’t do. I love a challenge. I’m super competitive. That was fun. I think, because of my size, people automatically think I’m involved in athletics.

You said you didn’t enjoy football?

I played my sophomore year. I started out at JV and at the end of the year they asked me to move up to varsity. I just didn’t want to. It wasn’t exciting.

But chess is exciting.

Chess is exciting.

I have an app on my phone that I play. I don’t get a chance to play in tournaments anymore because it requires a lot of travel because there are not that many here in the area.

I also enjoy playing volleyball almost more than chess – or about equally. I love volleyball. I played my senior year at Bayside. In fact, Coach Cunningham, I saw him recently at Planet Fitness. He really got me interested in volleyball. It was fun.

Is there anything else people should know about you?

I enjoy my job. I enjoy the work that we do. I enjoy my family. I enjoy my kids and other people’s kids and I try to treat them like they’re mine.

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My favorite things to do are play softball, do gymnastics and do cheer.

Tell me what you like about all those things.

I like playing in center field at softball because if they hit the ball really hard you could go to left field, you could stay and go to second base, and you could go to right field, too. My favorite thing about gymnastics is uneven bars because you get to twist and turn and flop around. I like cheering because my sister used to do cheer and she won a trophy, and I really like trophies so I like to do cheer.

What grade are you going to be in next year?

I’m going to be in third grade next year.

What are you excited about?

SOL tests. I really like to do work on tests and I just love working.

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“I like to play and learn and eat and do my work.”

What do you like to do when you’re not at school?

“I like to play with my sister. And I have a baby brother; he knows how to speak. And I play with him, too.”

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I want to be a doctor.

Why do you want to be a doctor?

So when people get sick, I can help them. And I want to be a nurse to wrap ice up and take people’s temperature.

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I enjoy drawing even though I know I’m not going to make a living out of it. I can’t draw realistically at all, but I do know some tips about realistic drawing, like how the shoulders have to be wider than a person’s head.

Why do you like drawing?

Because you can draw basically anything you want and it may be hard but it’s not impossible. I usually like to draw things like macaroons and cakes.

Sounds like you like to draw desserts.

Yes, definitely!

Do you have a favorite dessert to eat?

Hmmm…I can’t decide whether I like crème de cacao balls more than brownies. Crème de cocoa balls is this family recipe. It’s supposed to originally be chocolate nut balls but to make it more delicious, I guess, my family put in crème de cacao in it.

I also like downloading apps on my phone that has these pictures; it’s like an online coloring book. You can take these shades; you can take gradients; you can take solid colors and color it. It’s really relaxing and stress relieving – I mean, it’s not that I have stress on me all the time, but it is stress relieving.

Are you excited about being in fifth grade this year?

I mean, I’m excited for fifth grade but I’m not really excited for the end of it because I’ve only been at Holland my whole life and it’s kind of scary to go to another school. I mean some people know what switching schools is like, for kindergarten they’re at one school and then they’re at another school. I was in pre-K here. I know this whole school. I could walk through it blindfolded with my eyes closed and I would still know about it.

Have you thought about what you want to do when you grow up?

Well, I might want to know some French. But I also might want to carry on my mom’s baking business. But the main thing I want to do is to be a professional mermaid – maybe one that even works on the trapeze. It’s an actual professional job. I first saw this when my grandma was on her phone on Facebook and she was like, “Oh, look at your aunt’s cousin and she’s a professional mermaid, she works with the trapeze.” I was like, “Well, I want do that.” But it takes flexible, strong people to work on the trapeze, so I’m probably going to be one of the mermaids in Florida where there are tubes that they get the air from so they can swim in the water longer.

I didn’t even know that job existed.

Yeah. It’s an entertainment job. I’ve always wanted to be a YouTuber or a veterinarian or just something like that. One time I wanted to work at Sea World.

But I just have my mind set on this mermaid thing because getting paid to be a mermaid, like, who wouldn’t want to do that?

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I like to play with my trucks. I like to watch TV. I like to play with my sister.

What do you like best about school?

My teachers read books.

Have you thought about what you want to be when you get older?

Yes, a firefighter. They put out fires and help people. They help people get out safely.

And they help cats.

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My father is retired from public service. He is a retired New York City fireman. Growing up he would often talk about work – the built environment, fire codes and safety. I like to understand context of both art and the built environment so that kind of led me down the road not only to architecture but city and regional planning, which kind of looks at the bigger picture, such as how does a building fit into a neighborhood to how does the building fit into the community, what resources are being used and how is that adding to the community.

My main job today is looking at projections in the future [for the school division] and how our student population might grow or decline, and with that, look at our available capacity and where students [live]. We also upkeep attendance zones and related information for the community that could impact those zones. We’re also a liaison for city planning initiatives, such as those dealing with housing and neighborhood preservation.

I love my job. I really enjoy working for the school division. It’s the best of both worlds. As I worked through school I began working in both development and education. I taught in a variety of areas in K-12: special education, English as a second language, home hospital instruction. I have also been an art teacher. So I’ve always gone back and forth with the design aspect, the built environment and the educational aspect. When a job came up with the school division in Facilities Services, it was a perfect fit. I know that the work that I do every day serves the community as a whole and the future of the community as a whole.

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I’m going to be in second grade next year.

What did you like best about first grade?

That I got to go outside sometimes. And then the last day of school, I got to have bubbles and they had little toys in them. And we got to celebrate outside.

What are you excited about for second grade?

Well, if we go outside sometimes or so. I don’t know. I’ve never been there. I don’t know what they have different.

I see you’re wearing a Star Wars shirt.

Well, I am a fan of Star Wars. I watched “The Last Jedi” like 50 times!

Do you have a favorite character?

Rey. She is really good at things, like using a lightsaber. She was training so she’s gets better and better at it.

Would you like to have a lightsaber?

Well, I already have one, but a real one…I do really want that.

Is there anything else you want people to know about you?

Well, I don’t know. That’s all of the things I have on my mind pretty much right now.

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My favorite thing is gymnastics because I can do a flip forward or a flip backward. I can do cartwheels. I can do a roundoff. I can flip on my couch.

What are some of your other favorite activities?

I like to take pictures. I have my own tablet.

What do you take pictures of?

Me.

So you’re taking selfies. Do you have a favorite pose?

Yes. This…

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I enjoy a lot of sports and a lot of challenges, that way I can keep my brain active and be successful when I’m an adult.

What’s your favorite subject in school?

Math is my best subject. I used to hate math because I was never good at it, but then one day it clicked because my mom made me study all summer. Then I just got really good at it, so now I’m two years ahead in math.

What advice would you give to other students who are struggling with math?

To just keep trying. It’s all about trial and error.

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This year I might play baseball or soccer. I have some friends who go to this camp who were in my third-grade class, so I might see them in fourth grade.

What are you excited about for fourth grade?

That I get to meet new people and I get a new teacher.

Have you thought about what you want to be when you grow up?

I want to be an artist because I like to draw things. I’m trying to draw a diamond. It’s good to draw, so when I grow up and I paint they can put it in a museum and people will see all of my art.

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My favorite subject is math because I get to learn how to do different kinds of math.

What do you like most about the summer?

I get to go to friends’ houses.

What are you looking forward to next year in fifth grade?

To make a lot of friends.

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I graduated from Tallwood High School in 2016. Now I’m a junior at Liberty University and I’m studying nursing. One thing that I think is really cool about this [leadership] program…I think I’ve just been learning the value of education and how it’s more than a teacher trying to get something across – it’s more than instruction. It’s about empowering students. It’s believing in and supporting students beyond your curriculum – like, their personalities and supporting differences. For example, we just had our middle school workshop and I’ve seen that if these kids get one person to believe in them, that makes all the difference. That’s just so powerful. We have some goals that we really wanted to get across to them, like the importance of inclusion and reaching out, and we saw a quick turnaround. We teach it in one of the first sessions and by the end of the day we saw middle schoolers being active and already trying to include people. We need to give them a little bit more credit. They’re in this weird, kind of awkward stage in their life, but I think that they have a lot to say.

You must have had people believe in you along the way in school.

For sure. I got involved kind of later in my high school career, but teachers who really love their students, like I’ve been saying, beyond curriculum – it’s just so important to have people older than you,  because you just value their opinion tenfold, when they look you in the eye and say, “I really would love for you to be involved in something I’m in charge of,” that means so much. Like, my SCA adviser from Tallwood, Mrs. Johnson, she’s awesome. I just remember vividly her telling me I should definitely get involved in SCA. Something small like that had this ripple effect [on me] of first, being an SCA officer; then, attending Virginia Beach Leadership Workshop; then, being on staff; then, having this cool opportunity to fall in love again with education and interacting with students. It’s even caused me to shift my focus in college a little bit to nursing education, and I hold a couple tutoring jobs at school. It’s really been a life-changing experience in the true sense.

And what interests you about a career in nursing?

I didn’t want to be a nurse until pretty much November of senior year at Tallwood. I wanted to be an engineer for the longest time. I kind of felt like, one, there was a lot of math and I don’t love math, but also I feel like engineering is, kind of, you focus on your project and then share – it’s more of a personal kind of thing. I was thinking about what else could I do, and I know I have a love for science and how things work, and the insides and outsides of things, and I have a love for people and just service in general. I think that nursing is the perfect blend of serving people but still having science. You’re meeting people and serving them when they’re at their lowest physically, but a lot of time they’re going through something serious that they haven’t dealt with before so they also are at their lowest spiritually and mentally. We call it holistic care, so we’re catering to their physical needs, which is understood when you’re a nursing major, but you’re catering to their spiritual needs and their emotional needs as well. It’s been difficult, but I’ve had more and more clinicals recently. Talking to them is just as impactful as treating them, and I see those kinds of values paralleled in the school system as well.

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Especially since I’m the only girl in this CyberCamp, it’s giving me a chance to prove to myself that I can do this since there aren’t a lot of women in this field.

It’s really fun and it’s a real eye-opener…like learning how to program certain things, how to add stuff to a computer, how to protect your documents, especially in a world where we’re really moving on into technology and computers…it’s just a real eye-opener for me.

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I want to be a veterinarian. I love animals and I want them to feel better…and I don’t want them to go extinct.

Do you have a favorite animal?

Hedgehog. They’re so cute!

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I like reading. I like playing outside – going on the slides and monkey bars. When I get to play, that’s the most fun part about the reading camp and all the activities. I like everything! The last thing is that I like when I get to come here again tomorrow. That’s my favorite thing.

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When my dad taught me how to weld, he noticed that I was getting good at it. Right now we are modifying a golf cart. I’ve been welding for about a year. My dad and I built a go-cart and two trikes. It’s entertaining. I also like playing with robots. Robots have always interested me. In my first class, we are working with Spheros and I like coding. I like using them a lot.

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I like challenging things. I don’t like easy things. I like challenging things because then I can push myself to work harder.

What’s your favorite subject in school?

I like math. There’s something about math. I’m really good at it.

Do you like it because it’s challenging?

Yes.

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This is my 25^th year. It’s gone really fast. I’ve held six different positions in 25 years and when I started as a fifth-grade teacher, I never thought I would leave the classroom. All my life, all I wanted to do was be a teacher and I loved it. When I think back on all of the positions, they all really are about the same thing – helping others and learning; helping others be the best that they can be and that never has changed. That’s always been my motivation. I’ve always been really lucky to work for administrators that have supported me and encouraged me and allowed me to try new things and allowed me to grow, even when it’s been into new positions. And that’s really what I want for everybody else and that’s what I love about coming to work each day – that I get to help shape a culture and provide opportunities for others to be the best that they can be.

You said you’ve had six positions. What did you do after teaching fifth grade?

I became a computer resource specialist, which now we call an instructional technology specialist. I then became an elementary instructional technology coordinator, and after some years doing that I needed a new challenge, so I switched to high school even though I never taught high school before. Then I came to the Center for Teacher Leadership as the director. A few years ago our office shifted and I moved with the new office to become the Director of Teacher Learning and Leadership. I realize that the teacher aspect is just a small part of what I do because we really are looking at every employee. We don’t stop growing when we graduate from high school or college, and every employee needs an opportunity to continue learning to be better at their position. That’s what our office does and that’s what I think about all the time.

What do you like to do when you’re not at work?

For the last few years I’ve been in school, plus I have a very busy job, so I feel that for the last few years everything has been: No, I don’t have time for that. So this summer I really have intentionally focused on making the most of my free time. I’m going to the beach, where I wasn’t going to the beach at all in the last few years. Anybody who is asking me to do something, I am saying yes. I’ve gone flying. I’ve taken daytrips places. I really want to make the most of all my time.

Is there anything else you’d want people to know?

I love my job. I’m grateful. I ran into a retired former administrator and I was telling her the division has been really good to me. I really have had great opportunities and they’ve always kind of been a surprise. The computer resource position was created, and I wanted to be part of that. The Center for Teacher Leadership was created, and I wanted to be part of that. It’s never been a plan; it’s just been an opportunity presents itself and I’ve been excited to try new things.

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My favorite activities are probably go to places around Virginia Beach with friends, play baseball and play golf.

What do you like to do during the summer?

Going to the beach, to Ocean Breeze, swimming in a pool – pretty much anything with water.

How are you feeling about starting high school?

I don’t exactly know. I have mixed feelings. It’s new…everything! But a lot of friends from PA are going to Kellam so hopefully I’ll see them.

Have you thought about what kind of jobs you might like to have in the future?

People ask me this all the time and I’m not really sure. There are two things I’ve always wanted to do – to be some sort of engineer or a Navy pilot, which would be cool. You get to fly jets and do stuff that an average person doesn’t get to do.

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I always went to the Kellam field hockey camps, starting when I was in preschool. I always looked up the high school players and I would always watch them do their workouts beforehand. My dad and I would drive in early to see the workouts they would do before the camp, and I would always be like, “I could never do that,” or “I can’t wait until I’m there.” So 10 years later, I’m here at Kellam and playing for the team and captain for the team and able to lead all the younger girls and seeing myself in them – especially the freshmen because I know it was only four years ago and I know the exact position that they are in.

We do preseason all summer. It starts the first summer day after school ends and it’s all the way to the end of the summer. It’s three days a week, and then once we get into August it gets more difficult. We start having practice every single day, two times a day on most days, with preseason games. So it’s a long summer; it’s a very long summer. But it’s nice because we get to wake up at 6 a.m. every morning, so it’s not very different from school so we don’t have the slump. So far, all the girls are blowing me away. This year everyone is very excited at 7 a.m. and they’re all excited to start running and start working out, which is great, especially since we have to wake up early, do a hard workout and then have the rest of the day. But having your friends and your teammates there to support you for the hour is really great.

You’re going into your senior year. What are your feelings about that?

Of course nervous because it’s kind of the last step before college and what life has after that. But I’m really excited for senior year, mostly because I’ll be with some of my best friends and I’ll be taking really good classes. I’m joining a lot of different clubs and I’m part of Senior Class this year as vice president. Being able to plan prom and homecoming, it’s really exciting. I’m excited to see what the future has in store, especially with field hockey.

Have you thought about what you want to pursue as a career?

I want to major in either international relations or international law. I want to be a lawyer for human rights or something along those lines, being able to work globally. I’ve always known I wanted to pursue a career where I could travel but also help people and reach out. I thought that major and career path would be the best to hit both of those points.

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I’m up to year 24 with Virginia Beach City Public Schools. I started as an elementary school art teacher at Luxford Elementary School.

What are you excited about in this new role as a fine arts coordinator?

I would say that this new role offers me the opportunity to go back to my wheelhouse and do things that I’m very passionate about – visual arts is where my true education and passion lies. Also, I’ve really come to discover I truly like leadership and coordinating programs, teachers, students, community, partners, etc. So, just all those things combined, I feel like I can hit the ground running. Anne Wolcott and Sharon Clohessy established some fantastic foundation work here, and it gives me an opportunity to maybe bring in a fresh look, continue the work they’re doing and continue to grow the visual arts program in the division. Some of the things that we’re hoping to do is that we continue to look at ways to offer new and exciting opportunities to students via the curriculum in addition to exhibition opportunities. We’ll probably continue a lot of the traditions that are in place that are very sound but from the same standpoint, we’ll probably take a step back and look at how our community as a whole has started to change. When you start to look at visual arts, we have a lot of really fabulous things going on at the Oceanfront and in the ViBe. MOCA plays a huge part in that, so that partnership is key to the continued success of education of our students in the city.

What do you like to do when you’re not at work?

I’m a family man. I have two wonderful boys and a fabulous wife. My son is a rising senior, which is hard to believe, at First Colonial and ATC. My youngest is a rising seventh-grader at Old Donation School. My wife is a fourth-grade teacher at John B. Dey. So, I keep busy with them. In my free time…I like to exercise, try to keep in shape. I’m a cross-trainer. I like lifting. I’m actually an ex-college wrestler. Most people don’t know that, they don’t make the connection between visual arts and wrestling. I surprised Mr. Brewington yesterday when I told him that I was a snare drummer all through high school…in a fabulous marching band, the Sherburne Earlville Marching Marauders, under the tutelage of an outstanding drumline instructor that was with the Madison Scouts, a guy named Dr. Steven Spelcy.

I also have the great escape – I love going to watch NASCAR. I love watching cars go in circles really fast. I’m not sure why but it’s such a great release for me. I love the design of and the engineering of cars. The engines…that will be, when I retire someday, I would love to learn the mechanics of how they do some of that stuff. It’s fascinating to me.

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I’ve been wanting to know Russian for a long time.

Why?

I don’t know. I just don’t really like speaking English; it’s boring.

What do you like best about being at the STARTALK academy?

It’s fun because it’s different and every time I got back to school, I teach some of my friends new things. The teachers here are really nice, too. And the field trips…I’ve been to a museum in Richmond to see the Fabregé egg. And we had Russian people come here and make really good pelmeni; they’re Russian dumplings.

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I like reading a lot of books – very big, thick, challenging books.

Why?

I don’t know. It’s something entertaining and it’s something that gives me a challenge. I’ve just always enjoyed it.

What’s the biggest, most challenging book you’ve read?

I’m currently reading it – “War and Peace.” I think it’s actually really interesting to see the perspective of different people.

Have you thought about what you want to be when you grow up?

Yes. I want to be a businesswoman who has a nonprofit business that has to do with helping others and giving back to the community.

In what ways?

I’m thinking about maybe women empowerment because I feel like that’s a major thing that women today sometimes struggle with.

I feel like why we sometimes think that way is just a matter of how we see the world. In this world, everyone looks at it as, “Oh, men are here to save the day. They’re so strong.” But really that’s not the case and I feel like now women have that mindset that that is the case.

And you believe that women can save the day.

Yes!

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In school, I like art. I like it because you can just draw anything you want. I usually draw my friends.

What do you like best about the summer?

I like how it’s hot every day, and it has my birthday – July 1. Now I’m 10.

What did you do for your birthday?

We did a whole bunch of shopping for things for gaming and stuff.

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In the summer I like that we get to do summer things like go to the beach and swim or go to all the summer programs that they have. We participate in our public library’s programs.

Have you thought about what you want to be when you grow up?

Yes, I want to be either a special education teacher or a kindergarten teacher because I like to be with kids and it’s fun. And I like to take care of my baby cousins.

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