One day in 8th grade a sub came into our English class. He kind of looked like me. He wasn’t tall. He wasn’t old. He was the same height as me, even though I was fourteen. And he had the same skin color as me -- sandy colored, a wet sandy color. We had walked in, and we knew we had a sub. We were excited for a sub. But when we walked in, we were like “Oh, we have a cool sub!” We wanted to speak to him. I wanted to know whether he was Cambodian or Vietnamese. My friend asked him, and he told us he was Vietnamese. I felt like I could connect right away with him. Even though he was in authority, I felt that he was easier to talk to.

I then graduated middle school and went on to high school. In freshman year I had no Asian American teachers. In sophomore year I had no Asian American teachers. In junior year I had no Asian American teachers. In senior year I had no Asian American teachers. I saw Asian American teachers in the hallways, but I didn’t take their classes. I don’t think they taught AP or Dual Enrollment classes, which is what I was taking.

In the first semester, first period of my senior year I choose to take a class called Teaching in the Inclusive Classroom. I signed up for it honestly because I thought it would be an easy advanced class. At first I didn’t really care about it, but then I started realizing it might be useful. At the beginning of the semester my teacher told us we were going to go teach in elementary schools. I was excited first of all to skip school for a day, but I also began to think it was nice to see that we were doing hands-on learning that actually mattered. It wasn’t just a paper in a class. I felt if we were going into a class, I wanted to take it seriously. We chose to do a read-aloud about penguins and polar bears. I wrote down questions to ask: Why does a polar bear have blubber? Where do penguins live? I had to really think when we did the lesson plan, I thought of my four-year-old nephew - I wouldn't want a teacher to make him confused. How would I make it as clear as possible?

I was very nervous teaching the lesson, I didn’t know any of the kids, I didn’t know how to control the classroom, how to get them to focus and listen. But the teachers reassured us. Looking back I had fun. I think it was interesting to have hands-on work that brought us out of the classroom.

Teaching has made me think about kids now. They all need help and guidance. I remember thinking that too when I was little. I remember just wanting to talk to adults, but it always felt weird that they couldn’t understand what I had to say.

I realize now I thought about being a teacher when I was little, but I thought I couldn’t. I never thought about being a teacher seriously until this year. I never saw any teachers like me. I would only see it in pictures or drawings. So it never felt real. I feel a lot of teachers talk about how we need more diverse teachers. But it can be hard when you don’t see it.

Now that I’m seeing it with people I know, people who have supported me, it's something I’m interested in doing. I’m going to college next year and taking a minor in education. Teaching seems like a fun job. But it now matters to me to be a teacher. It shows other parents in our community that their kids don’t just have to be lawyers and doctors, that they can also be teachers. I want my students to see themselves in their teacher. I hope students will be able to see themselves in me.

© Kaunitha. All rights reserved. If you are interested in quoting this story, contact the national team and we can put you in touch with the author’s teacher.