Written by: Fiona Yang, FCSN Voices Youth Reporter
Graphics by: Helen Peng, FCSN Voices Graphic Artist
Working as a fundamental part of FCSN's SNTutoring, Computer Classes Head Catherine Wang proved her valuable dedication towards helping the special needs community through her volunteer service. Having spent four years in FCSN, she truly exemplifies a driven and devoted team player in her endeavors.
On June 8, Catherine Wang received one of the six FCSN Outstanding Youth Volunteer Awards. Her FCSN journey stems back to years ago. After initially learning about the organization from her brother's recommendation, Wang started volunteering for FCSN in seventh grade. This was also the time when online learning was in full swing due to the pandemic; however, Wang found a way to show unwavering passion for helping the special needs community by utilizing resources to teach subjects focused on digital skills such as finance, coding, and digital art. By leading online classes, Wang ultimately received over 300 volunteer hours.
Over the course of volunteering, Wang made lots of long lasting memories tutoring students. The volunteering experience provided an abundance of merits such as initiative by diversifying class content. Throughout her journey, she saw immense personal growth through several areas: leadership and communication. Wang is the head of the online tutoring branch, overseeing all the classes offered and demonstrating her immense capability to work with both tutors and students. Additionally, as a tutor, learning about the connections between her tutees and their families established a deeper significance, making the experience noticeably more memorable. For example, Wang recalls teaching a video editing class in which the student's mother hoped that her son could help edit videos for her garden. "[The mother hoped] that [her son could] carry [the YouTube channel] on," Wang said. By teaching her students valuable lessons and skills, Wang hoped to impart each and every student with new knowledge while creating a comfortable learning atmosphere.
Wang at a Girl Scout conference in a hotel
One challenge Wang has faced is the influx of new courses and in person learning. As the community gradually eased off of online sessions and back into classroom settings, the change also led to others. "My class was super popular during COVID … [ and now] we're transitioning to some more applicable life skills like nutrition and finance … before we had a lot of art classes like design, architecture," she said. Without the convenience of online classes, the change to in person learning has proved to be more difficult, especially with long transportation and new classroom environments.
Wang playing tennis at her school team
For Wang, being a tutor for FCSN students greatly expanded her character growth. Because neurodiverse minds have different learning styles and require different teaching styles catered towards each student, tutoring students often requires critical leadership skills such as quick thinking, adaptability, and honed problem solving capabilities. "[The volunteering experience] definitely teaches you to read the situation … Because, especially with special needs, it's easy to be overwhelmed or confused … The most important part is making sure everyone's comfortable learning," she said. Connecting with her tutees and taking initiative to care for each and every student has given her insight into her own personal growth, which she described to be an immensely fulfilling experience.
Throughout her FCSN journey, Wang has met a lot of new people and enjoyed the entire experience. For volunteering, Wang emphasized the importance of making new connections, which made the experience much more fun and memorable. Her biggest goal she hoped to achieve through volunteering with FCSN is "[helping] the community and [making] a positive difference," she said.
Aside from volunteering at FCSN, Wang enjoys art. She expresses her passion through teaching a lot of other art classes. In the fall, she will be entering her third year of high school. Over her dynamic four years at FCSN, Wang fostered a memorable impact in both the special needs community and in her personal growth.
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