Julia Rush — Chief Content EditorJulia Rush is a University of Illinois freshman from the suburbs of Chicago majoring in Elementary Education. At U of I, her favorite part of the week is going to the Don Moyer Boys and Girls Club, where she gets the chance to help students with their reading. She is very passionate about literacy and helping students realize the magic of reading and writing! Furthermore, she is the secretary for MAFE (the Minority Association of Future Educators).
When she is not with children or working towards her degree, she enjoys being outdoors, playing rugby, and writing creatively. She hopes that as a teacher, she will be able to use her skills with athletics and writing to further enrich the lives of her students! |
Student Voices with Julia Rush
On Why She Returned to the Don Moyer Boys & Girls Club
At the beginning of Spring Semester, I was extremely excited to go back to the Boys and Girls Club. The previous semester, I had gotten the amazing opportunity of being partnered with two great students for the Reading Partners program. I could have gone to another site to expand my horizons, but the relationship I built with my two students was too strong to miss out on! Before leaving, one of my students kept talking about how much she’d miss me and reading with me. Hearing that gives you such a fantastic feeling!
When I was going back to the Boys and Girls Club, I hoped that I could continue to learn ways to motivate students and to help them learn as best as possible. Also, I was hoping that I would learn how to teach students in the best way, even within the confines of a program that requires certain procedures. Overall, I just wanted to enrich myself as a future educator in order to build on my knowledge so I could better teach my current and future students.
In terms of giving, I simply hoped that I could instill a love for reading in my two students. Reading has always been something I love, and I just hoped, and still hope, that my students view it not as a challenge, but as something fun that can benefit them. One of my students had started off hating reading so much that he would enter the homework room yelling about how much he hates to read. Watching him start to finally read after an entire semester was extremely exciting to see, and I was hoping to get back and help him read even more and maybe even start to enjoy it (and it turned out that he ended up graduating from the program halfway through the semester!).
Overall, I wished that I could contribute to the great work done at the Boys and Girls Club. It is a place that really cares about children and their personal growth, and it is so fantastic to be a part of that. I wished that my students and I form even stronger bonds and that they simply continued to learn and grow. Recently, I have been nervous about becoming a teacher because it is such a challenging job, but working at the Boys and Girls Club reminds me why I am on the path that I am on. Because of that, I am so thankful that I returned to the Club.
When I was going back to the Boys and Girls Club, I hoped that I could continue to learn ways to motivate students and to help them learn as best as possible. Also, I was hoping that I would learn how to teach students in the best way, even within the confines of a program that requires certain procedures. Overall, I just wanted to enrich myself as a future educator in order to build on my knowledge so I could better teach my current and future students.
In terms of giving, I simply hoped that I could instill a love for reading in my two students. Reading has always been something I love, and I just hoped, and still hope, that my students view it not as a challenge, but as something fun that can benefit them. One of my students had started off hating reading so much that he would enter the homework room yelling about how much he hates to read. Watching him start to finally read after an entire semester was extremely exciting to see, and I was hoping to get back and help him read even more and maybe even start to enjoy it (and it turned out that he ended up graduating from the program halfway through the semester!).
Overall, I wished that I could contribute to the great work done at the Boys and Girls Club. It is a place that really cares about children and their personal growth, and it is so fantastic to be a part of that. I wished that my students and I form even stronger bonds and that they simply continued to learn and grow. Recently, I have been nervous about becoming a teacher because it is such a challenging job, but working at the Boys and Girls Club reminds me why I am on the path that I am on. Because of that, I am so thankful that I returned to the Club.