Seamus

I am twenty four years old, and just moved to Chicago from San Francisco. I graduated from Marquette University in 2022, majoring in History and Writing Intensive English, and soon after worked at Archbishop Riordan High School in San Francisco. I taught there for two years as a teacher`s aide in the Resource Specialist Program, where I assisted students with learning differences navigate their studies. Now I am in Chicago looking to expand my experiences and challenge myself.

Willing to travel: 8 miles

Experience: On and off since high school, I have worked summer camps. The campers’ ages would range from four years old to thirteen. While it was not easy and sometimes things went wrong (uncooperative campers, failed or uninteresting activities, arguments between campers, etc.), every day was rewarding. By the end of the day, I always had a few moments that made me smile. I am patient and more often than not, try to find the positive out of otherwise negative situations. I also understand kids, and how to talk to them, how to get them to be engaged with something that they may at first be averse to. I am also grateful for my time teaching in high school. This offered many different challenges than the summer camps, but also a great many new joys and fulfilling moments. I developed relationships and nurtured trust between the students and me. Again, my patience and passion for the subject I was teaching made the day less painful for the students, and even changed some of their minds on the practicality of improving one’s writing or the joy of reading. I wasn’t expecting to transform all my students into poet laureates, but I did hope they learned to at least give it a shot, and practice doing something that they may at first not like.