National Intern Day
Today is National Intern Day!! And Adoption Choices of Kansas and Missouriis sending a special THANK YOU to our writing interns. National Intern Day was created to recognize all the college students and graduates testing the professional waters across the country as interns. Internships offer future business leaders the experience they need to succeed in their related field.
Interns with Adoption Choices of Kansas and Missouri research, write, and share valuable information, tips, advice, news, stories, and more for our adoption network! Given several adoption topics to choose from, they spend hours collecting the most up to date, essential information and build an article. It’s more than just an article though, it’s a tool for birth mothers and adoptive families to be able to find Adoption Choices on the web, share resources, connect within the adoption community, and help understand the adoption process. We are sending Jason Legasse a great big THANK YOU– today and everyday for all the hard work you share with us!
Hello! My name is Jason Legasse, and I am a 20 year old undergraduate student originally from Clifton Park, NY. I moved this past Summer to Venice, Florida with my mom and dog to escape the Winters, and we absolutely love it so far! I attend Siena College in Loudonville, NY, which is a small, franciscan liberal arts college with approximately 3,000 undergraduates, and around 100 graduate students. Although it is a very small college, it is an extremely well-known college in New York, and many students attend from nearby states like Massachusetts, to far away states like California! Siena has an amazing reputation, and I am incredibly grateful to attend such an amazing small school that truly wants to see all of its students do amazing things upon graduation!
I will be graduating from Siena this December, and am then planning to attend Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina, to earn my M.A.T. (Master’s of Arts in Teaching degree) in General Special Education! Graduating from a four year school in two and a half years has been a major challenge, but I feel like taking some extra steps to achieve that goal has been well worth it! I was very motivated, and took as many as six classes a semester, recently obtaining a 3.38 GPA for my Spring 2020 semester. I know that I will be very young when I enter graduate school this January, but I am ready for whatever challenges come my way, and I can’t wait to be certified to teach in North Carolina!
I was not originally planning to teach special education. My heart was set on teaching English, until a few things came to mind. I knew that I wanted to teach a smaller class, and I knew that I may feel myself being stressed out with having potentially 150 kids a year, like at my high school. Having a disability myself, I wanted to help students that are struggling with their disability, or lack self-confidence. I want them to know that they can do anything they put their mind to, and I feel like I would be an amazing teacher for any student. However, I chose to continue with my English degree, because I know that any future employer is seeking skills that most English majors possess, such as critical thinking. I am also very interested in co-teaching English, after having been in a co-taught English class, when I was in 11th grade. Co-teaching is when there is one special education teacher, and one general education teacher in the same classroom. They teach the same class for the entire year, and typically both students with disabilities, and students in the general education setting are in the classroom. Not only is this an amazing idea that worked out well for me, personally, but it helped to promote inclusion. Including students with disabilities in our general education settings is extremely important, and I am a huge advocate for it. That class was by far one of my favorites, and I feel that it was because the teachers not only worked well together, but as a student with a disability, it did not feel like my disability was there. It was such an amazing experience, and I hope that I can introduce co-teaching to the school that I get hired at! I think co-teaching is very underlooked, and something that should be introduced in more schools. I can’t wait to introduce that change to my future middle school, and I look forward to seeing how that change will progress overtime!
I feel like all of my life, I have struggled both internally, and externally with myself. However, I feel that doing things like partaking in this internship with Adoption Choices has helped me to not only become a better writer, but to also learn more about adoption. I know that as a future teacher, that I will have students in my class who are adopted, and I want to be able to support them in any way that I can. I have learned so much through my short time with Adoption Choices, and I know that I will take what I have learned, and use it for the rest of my life. Coming into my internship, all that I really knew about adoption was that it was a choice for birth mothers, and basically whatever happened happened. Through my time in this internship, I learned that this is very far from the truth. There are a wide variety of birth mothers, and adoptive families that have been through a lot. No two situations are the same, and that’s what makes the adoption process so interesting and wonderful. Adoption is so much more than what I thought it was, and I would encourage anybody to partake in this internship, regardless of the level of knowledge they may have about adoption. I will be a better teacher because of my time writing for Adoption Choices, and I know that I can be able to better understand anyone that is having a tough time with their adoption, regardless of their age. Thank you to Rachel, Lisa, Patience, and the entire team of Adoption Choices, for allowing me this amazing opportunity to write for such a wonderful organization! I will never forget about my time, and I look forward to helping others who have been adopted!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read about me! I cannot wait to see where life takes me next!
“Keep Smiling”, Jason Legasse
As we look ahead to a brighter future for our world and our companies, we know that this new generation of students and graduates will help get us there. If you or someone you know is interested in writing for Adoption Choices of Kansas and Missouri, we are regularly accepting interns. Our interns research and share 1-3 articles a week to be published across our adoption network. Internships with Adoption Choices offer future business leaders the experience they need and provide hands-on editorial experience.
Once again, thank you Jason!!
