ShoShana White exudes the kind of contagious spark reflecting her love of enabling children with disabilities flourish. She lifts others.
Graduating today with a degree in special education, the senior of the University of Kentucky College of Education is poised to enter a classroom of her own.
“I want to be the voice for my students who don’t always know they have a voice,” White said. “They deserve to be heard, and I want to be someone who helps them have the education they deserve.”
Her path to become a teacher has not been without difficulties; particularly this past year when her mother received a cancer diagnosis. Managing coursework and student teaching against a family crisis took a toll. Still, the individuals close to her kept her going.
“My cohort and professors have been very supportive. I went through a lot, but it was the people around me who helped me push through it. The love and passion, that made me just want to go even harder,” she said.
White thanks UK College of Education Clinical Associate Professor Channon Horn, Ph.D., for her forward-looking assistance and great expectations.
“She doesn’t let you slip through the cracks,” White said. “Without her, I would not be where I am today. She is always going to be there to support you and guide you to be the best individual and teacher you can be. My professionalism, my writing, that all came from her having such high expectations. I knew that even though her standards are high, I can be successful as long as I stick to it. That was the best thing for me.”
Horn is delighted with the outstanding teacher White has developed and believes she will have a long-lasting impact on the life of next generations.
“ShoShana has been a force to be reckoned with during her time in our department,” Horn said. “She has an infectious personality and a strong work ethic. Her passion for special education and her ability to advocate for others will serve her future scholars well.”
Originally drawn to knowledge of how the brain functions, particularly in children with autism, White studied neuroscience. She appreciated the chance she was given to coach elementary students about brain operations through enjoyable activities while she was learning neuroscience. Eventually, though, the demanding scientific classes felt inappropriate for me.
She said, “you sound like a teacher when I considered the things I want to do in my life.” “I have always been the person you could contact and say, “Hey, how do I do this?” I enjoy studying and find it incredible that everyone of us can keep developing and learning.
That insight brought her to special education, a profession where her lifetime dedication to children with impairments mixed with her love of learning.
“I realized I could use my voice and my love for this community in a powerful way,” she said.
White offered to help others with impairments while a high school student. She was a peer tutor and took part in Unified Sports, a program where people with and without intellectual impairments team together. Her enthusiasm for kids with moderate to severe disabilities—those she characterizes as unique and beautifully self—was developed by that encounter.
“They’re just them and they always will be and I love how wholesome that is,” she said. “They don’t change for anyone’s opinion. Even on the hard days, I really love it.”
Getting practical experience in local schools has strengthened White’s belief that she is where she belongs as a special education major at UK. She is doing her student teaching hours in elementary and middle school special education classes in her last semester. Student teaching has been, she remarked, both demanding and quite fulfilling.
“I’ve dealt with behaviors like no others,” she said with a laugh. “It was an amazing learning experience. I am so thankful to have had the cooperating teachers that I had. Watching and learning from them both has been the best thing. I was able to facilitate learning under them, but also independently.”
White reported crying when she had to leave her elementary placement and anticipated more tears at the conclusion of her last days in her present middle school placement.
“I’ve loved every minute of it — the joy, the learning, the silly moments,” she said.
Kentucky instituted a stipend for student teachers this year, therefore relieving some of the financial load many of them incur while working full-time in classrooms.
“It really changed things,” White remarked. “We are doing the work of teachers and being paid indicates that what we do counts.”
Now, as graduation draws closer, White is delighted, proud, and enthusiastic about her future.
“It seems like I have followed my intended path,” she remarked. “Like I’m stepping into my new era—one step closer to be where I want to be.”
She will shortly have her own classroom, full of students studying, laughing, and simply being themselves—just as she has imagined.
She remarked, “Every day they will make my face grin. “Watching them spark when they pick up a new ability excites me. They will be rather pleased with themselves. exactly as proud as I will be of them.
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