{"id":9697,"date":"2011-12-07T11:52:46","date_gmt":"2011-12-07T15:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=9697"},"modified":"2013-11-20T13:04:00","modified_gmt":"2013-11-20T17:04:00","slug":"working-with-children-changes-wright-state-students-career-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2011\/12\/07\/working-with-children-changes-wright-state-students-career-path\/","title":{"rendered":"Working with children changes Wright State student\u2019s career path"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

Vanessa McKenzie (left) helps students who need to be brought up to the skill level of their peers by giving them extra attention and praising them for a job well done. At right is McKenzie's supervisor at Valerie Elementary, Cynthia Hauler<\/p><\/div>\n

Wright State student Vanessa McKenzie started out as an art major interested in fashion design. But now she\u2019s switching her major to middle childhood education. The reason? The children of Valerie Elementary.<\/p>\n

McKenzie originally walked into the office of Career Services just looking for a job\u2014any job. She picked a tutoring position at Valerie Elementary because her cousins had attended the school.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething just said go here,\u201d she said, \u201cand I went with my gut instinct, and I\u2019ve been there ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n

McKenzie works with groups of students at Valerie Elementary on reading comprehension, helping them make it through books they are reading in class. She is one of many tutors who have invested their time at the elementary over the last ten years helping the school move from “continuous improvement” to an “excellent” rating.<\/p>\n

McKenzie said that while fashion design was a hobby she enjoyed, working with children is something she will never get tired of, even if she does it every day. But it was only through tutoring at Valerie Elementary that she realized this.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had the opportunity to be in the classroom and see how the kids interact with the teacher,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I\u2019ve decided I want to be a teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also said that working one on one with students, or in small groups, has helped her better understand what kids need from their teacher to succeed in school.<\/p>\n

She helps students who need to be brought up to the skill level of their peers by giving them extra attention and praising them for a job well done.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat motivates them to do better because they can see that they can do the work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Students recently received another motivation in the form of an Oprah Winfrey\/Target Media Center Makeover. The school\u2019s library was overhauled and stocked with new technology, new furniture, and 2,000 new books. Students each took home seven new books to add to their own collection.<\/p>\n

McKenzie said the new library is beautiful, and that the students absolutely love it and spend hours reading there. The new library is also tangible evidence of the students\u2019 drive to succeed academically.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids boast of the fact that they\u2019re a school of excellence, and I love that,\u201d said McKenzie.<\/p>\n

She recommended the Career Services reading tutor program to anyone interested in working with children and especially encouraged applicants to pick Valerie Elementary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe teachers are wonderful, the principal is amazing and the students are just doll babies. I love them all,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wright State student Vanessa McKenzie started out as an art major… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":9700,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,2104,744,725,715,719],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-teacher-education","category-education-human-services","category-home-news-sidebar","category-news","category-special-categories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9697"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25757,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9697\/revisions\/25757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}