Making a Difference in the World
Katrina Alden, TSA ’12, with students in Malaysia where she is teaching as a Fulbright Fellow.
Every week I am exceedingly grateful for the community, support and tools that were given to me by TSA. I am currently living in Malaysia doing a Fulbright Teaching Assistant program for the year. I have been here since January working at a high school teaching English. Each day I teach I come closer to understanding what it means to be a mentor and how to create safe creative spaces for these incredible developing minds! Being back in a high school reminds me of all the incredible role models that I had as a teenager.
My heart is full of gratitude and light that I spent four crucial years learning from some of the most inspiring, joyful, confident and loving people. Each day I try to embody the spirit of kindness, childlike excitement, passion, empathy and compassion that was modeled by faculty and staff at TSA. The kids here started off very shy and nervous especially when it came to speaking with me, in the first couple of months some students would turn around and run for their lives when they saw me in the hallway. In the spirit of TSA I used many goofy warmups from our annual musical to get my students less afraid, more silly and open to making mistakes. When I am teaching, I use all the positive energy from my past teachers.
One of my the biggest projects this year is working on Women Leadership practices. I have been leading some after school workshops and have started our schools very first female soccer team because we all know girls kick butt at soccer too! This project is very close to my heart and reminds me of how lucky I was to grow up around strong women role models and a community where everyone was equally heard and valued. The Sharon Academy is a place I am forever trying to emulate where ever I go.
Katrina Alden, TSA ’12
To learn more about what Katrina is doing, click here.