Natalie Choi

In a middle school for severe learning disabilites, I still felt so behind and alien. I navigated the jungle of keeping track of assignments, and remembering to wear shoes to school (I occasionally forgot) and the art of not failing out of 7th grade science. When stuck in a world that wasn’t made for me, I ventured forth and made my own. I got my GED at 16, finished my EMT certifications while riding in bumpy screaming ambulances, and ventured out on medical mission trips in Kenya and Cambodia. At 21, I have overturned the idea that a desk and test is the best way to learn. With pages of failed tests fluttered behind me, I fly into life and find challenge in creating curriculums for my 12 year old autistic client or puzzling over the latest bit of video coding in my developmental research job. With every client, patient, or child I help, I yearn to become the understanding teacher that 5th grade me never had. This is why I want to become a special education teacher and eventually become a neuropsychologist.