Name? Nicole Busdeker
How long were you in ECCO? 5 years
When did you graduate? Undergrad—May 2017, Graduate—August 2018
Why did you join ECCO? I met Vrooman during a Preview Day the summer before I started college, and I liked how passionate he was about ECCO.
What did you get out of ECCO? Before ECCO, my idea of teaching was creating a classroom that was Pinterest worthy. ECCO gave me insight to what education is really like, including the issues. Being able to collaborate with a range of people in the education field has shaped me into the educator I am today.
Did you hold any positions while in ECCO? I was a Head of House for Behind White Picket Fences for two years.
What is your favorite memory in the field (either field placements here, teaching on the job, or whatever job you’re doing)? It just happened recently, but I had a great moment with one of my students. The school I teach at has a large number of students that live in group homes, and I have a student who lives in one and has attention/aggression needs. For the first few weeks of school, she would ruin my lessons by yelling, not doing work, distracting other students, leaving the class, walking on desks...etc. I continued to speak to her in a calm voice, ask her how she was feeling, talk about her parents...anything I could do to make her understand that I cared about her and I wanted her to be successful. After 5 weeks of this, she came into my class and gave me a hug. She has calmed her behavior in my class, started participating and doing work, and even turned in missing work.
Without my experience in ECCO, I honestly don't think I would have been equipped to understand (and finally reach) this student. We didn't talk about these students in the standard college classes.
Where are you now? I live in Pasadena, California, and I am in my first year of teaching at Marshall Fundamental Secondary School of Pasadena Unified School District.