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Welcome to Digication
Scholars Conversations.

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I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll.

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In this episode, you'll hear part
two of my conversation with Sharron

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Huang, recent graduate of Stony Brook
University, where she received a BA in

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Linguistics, an MA in teaching English
to speakers of other languages, and

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an MS in Speech Language Pathology.

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More links and information about today's
conversation can be found on Digication's

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Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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Full episodes of Digication Scholars
Conversations can be found on

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YouTube or your favorite podcast app.

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You did an extraordinary job sharing
the clinical experiences that I

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think, you know, would be so relevant
in them making decisions about who

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is going to kind of go to the next.

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level, you know, beyond just viewing
the resumes, who are they going

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to make initial contact to, who is
going to make it to the, you know,

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various rounds of interviews that
I'm sure happen, who becomes in that

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final list of candidates to consider.

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So, um, and alongside all of these
clinical experiences you had, something

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that we don't always see in, um, these
kinds of professional portfolios is

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that you had a section where you were
including recommendation letters.

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So people have a chance, you know,
to get some kind of boots on the

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ground information about what it was
like working with you too from other

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people before they even, you know,
maybe invite you in for an interview.

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What was it like for you to
kind of contact people that you

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are interested in including a
recommendation on your portfolio.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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So if you do go to my Digication for
all the listeners, like I have quite

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a number of recommendation letters.

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Um, I, I, I don't have anything.

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I'm happy to share them.

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Um, so like I said before, like I've,
Quite, quite amount of involvement

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throughout, um, my time at Stony Brook.

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So I was able to be real, very close with
my academic, um, professors and whatnot.

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So like they were happy to write me a
letter of recommendation, especially

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in such a close knit, um, cohort
and program as Stony Brook's, uh,

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speech language pathology masters.

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Like we are, we were quite a - a tight
- quite small cohort of just 29 students.

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I was also, um On the, the leadership
board for, um, our cohort as well.

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So that, that helped definitely get me
very close with a lot of our professors

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as I would always like often go to like
office hours or I'd stay behind and

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help out as a student assistant too.

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So luckily I was able to get really close
with them and they were happy to write

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me a letter of recommendation as well.

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So they were, of course, happy to do it,
and with it being a relatively new program

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as well, um, they were, like, our success
is their success, and that, I think, is

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also why I chose to come back to Stony
Brook, because I, I had other choices.

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I was thinking about, like, whether or not
I wanted to stay back in the city, because

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I had already moved back to Brooklyn.

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Um, and I considered staying in the city
and applying to, I did apply to other,

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um, speech programs within the city, but
I knew that, like, I personally had Dr.

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Fabus, who's the head of the program, um,
I had taken her classes as a pre-speech

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track student, um, in the summers and in
the winters, um, so being able to, like,

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have that personal experience with her,
and I know how much she's invested into

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the program and invested in our success.

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I, I knew she would be happy to
write a letter of recommendation,

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especially with how, how involved
I was with the program and how she

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really would love us to see us succeed.

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So, academic recommendations,
they were all super fantastic.

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The externship recommendations were
actually my clinical professor's idea.

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Um, she highly encouraged all of us
to ask for one immediately at, towards

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the end of our externship, so that way
we weren't asking for a recommendation

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from someone we haven't seen in a year.

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Now, while you're fresh in their minds.

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Yeah, exactly.

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Exactly.

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So.

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So, um, luckily I've had amazing,
wonderful externship experiences.

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I had, um, my very first one at the
United Cerebral Palsy and that was

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really my first experience working with
a medically complex community, especially

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amongst, uh, student populations.

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And that is actually very similar to
where I work in now when I work with,

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um, students who have special needs and
having that exposure genuinely is...

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I believe that's why I got the position
that I have now, um, and she was happy

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to write me a letter of recommendation.

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Uh, I worked in outpatient private
practice and that was super great.

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Like being able to collect these
experiences and look back so fondly,

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I'm very lucky to be able to do that.

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And then my last, my last externship
was in the New York City DOE and

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that was actually very last minute
opportunity where I was almost assigned

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to A school district on Long Island.

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But my clinical professor knew that
I wanted to come back home for us.

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And she knew that the DOE
was always a goal for me.

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So she very, very nicely and graciously
pulled some strings and had our contract

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early so that I was able to do it
because she was gonna have it done

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for the following cohort just based
off of like the timing and everything

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and and naturally with the program
being on Long Island there aren't too

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many people from the city who come
to make the trek out there for their

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graduate program since we do have
many graduate programs um for speech

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pathology in the city but she she was
very kind to have that work out for me.

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So I had my externship
recommendations there.

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And then of course with my,
my many extracurriculars, I

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had a great support staff.

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Many, many support staffs
where, um, I reached out to

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my current staff at that time.

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And the people who I hadn't
talked to like two, three years.

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Who I know had, they had written a letter
of recommendation for me a while ago,

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but I asked them because I see them
every now and then at RA events or campus

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residence, um, like networking or career
day, like being able to still have that

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connection with them, even though I hadn't
worked with them or directly under them

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for like two, three, four, five years.

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Like they, the fact that, We had such
a memorable time and that we were still

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on great terms, like, the fact that they
were willing to, to write me a letter of

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recommendation, I'm greatly appreciative.

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Yeah, you clearly made
very strong connections.

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Yeah, like, and they were so detailed
too, like, they would write in, they would

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write in different examples and stories
and like, like, wow, like, being able

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to, to have such a, like being able to
see what they, they thought about me too.

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And to have it written out
in paper was so reassuring.

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And like, I'm like, Oh, look, I know I had
an amazing time, like working with you.

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It's to hear all these like wonderful
words that you're saying about me.

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Just, I feel elated, you know?

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And then, um, my last, my last, um,
category, I guess, of letters of

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recommendations was summarizing my
teaching experiences because I had not

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only done my long term subbing out on, out
in the city, I had also done a maternity

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leave replacement as well on Long Island.

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So I was able to get a mix of both and,
um, I had also volunteered during the

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pandemic to, to do a program, um, And
where we were reading to a lot of the

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parents, kids who were involved in the
Stony Brook community, because imagine

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like being back home in the middle of the,
in the middle of the pandemic with your

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kid and you're constantly with your kid,
like naturally these parents need a break.

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They're, they don't, I'm sure
like they're petrified with what's

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happening in the world right now.

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And then, Hey, like all my
classes are remote anyway.

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So I couldn't go back.

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I couldn't go back in.

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I couldn't go back in subbing
with, with all the schools closed.

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So that was genuinely like such
a great way to use my time in

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such a meaningful, impactful way.

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Yeah, yeah.

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It's extraordinary.

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So I was curious, so you mentioned
you, um, were, you spent about a

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year and a half, maybe almost two
years working on the, uh, ePortfolio.

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As part of, it sounds like there
were three different classes, so did

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you start in one and then it kind
of carried through the other three?

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What was the professor's name?

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I'm sorry if I missed that earlier.

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Yeah, Elisabel Chang.

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Okay.

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So it sounds like she
gave some great advice.

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Oh, yeah.

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And then she, she actually showed
us some, some of the Digications

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from previ, the previous cohort too.

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So she showed examples of like what
you could possibly do with this.

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And it definitely got the
wheels turning, of course.

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Uh huh.

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It was nice to like, see what my peers
were doing and like, take some of

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like, their, like, their great work
and how they were displaying it and

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different features and gadgets to use.

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Um, While also like
figuring out my own style.

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How do I want to present it?

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How, what kind of, like, I
have extra teaching experience.

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I went to the ASHA convention.

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I really wanted to highlight that because
I was specifically related to the field.

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Um, but a lot of, uh, a lot of the, um, my
peers and I had a lot of similar tabs and

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whatnot too, because like we have the same
classes, we had, um, three externships,

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we should have a contact information.

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And, my professor was
really great in that.

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She had a rubric for us, too, so
that we started off with requiring

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a certain amount of things,
um, our first, um, assignment.

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So that way it was like a slow build
to it instead of just having all these

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expectations done immediately overnight.

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So that was, it was nice to like always
be like, Oh, like I have some spare time.

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Let me just add a little something
to my, my Digication now so that

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it doesn't build up over time.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, often when we're working
with, um, students that are part of

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these kind of professional practice
programs, there, there are kind of

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big expectations for what it may
look like at the end of the program?

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And I know very often instructors
and, you know, those that are kind of

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thinking about what, you know, what
the requirements might be or what, um,

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kind of the grading expectations may
be in designing some of these rubrics,

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how, how much structure do they want?

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To give the students to start or how,
how much do they just want the students

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to be able to kind of take their,
take the reins and have ownership over

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how it's organized and what content
is going to go in it, how much.

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Mentorship is going to be involved.

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How often are they going to be
able to see peers portfolios

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as they're being developed?

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And it sounds like there was
some natural sharing that was

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happening between your cohort.

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Was that something that was kind of
built into time that you had in class

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or did you find that you guys were just
kind of doing that on your free time?

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Did the professor encourage you to?

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Share with each other.

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What was that process like?

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Yeah, a mix of all of that.

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We, I remember in the classes we
would... she would have dedicated

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time for us to work on our Digication
portfolio, for us to talk to our

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neighbors, for us to ask her any
questions in the moment if we had any.

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So she definitely built into that, that
time to create a Digication portfolio

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within the class time so that we were,
um, around different inspiration or

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like have that... have her able, like,
be able to quickly look at our, our

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website to see if there are anything
that she wanted to add or like, oh,

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should I make my head shot over here?

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Should I put it over here?

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Should I not have it at all?

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Those are like quick questions
for her to answer too.

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Mm hmm.

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And it sounds like you got some
guidance too, and correct me if I'm

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wrong, but it looks like you might've
gotten some guidance because you were

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a part of these kind of Clinicals
and you also had these teaching

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experiences that you wanted to share.

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But, there's always, you know,
privacy kinds of guidelines

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and how much is shared.

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Does she give you some kind of
coaching on best practices there too?

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Yeah, definitely.

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So we, we had our rubric and
it was straightforward, but it

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definitely left a lot of room for
creative decisions and, and whatnot.

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So, um, she, she listed that she
wanted work from every single class.

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And your resume, of course,
and your cover letter.

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You weren't required to put down any
extracurriculars because some students

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might just simply not have any.

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But for the information that we
put, I know in a lot of our academic

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work, we have our peers names, or our
students names, or our clients names.

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So she, she made sure to tell
us to make, um, to make them

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unidentifiable, unidentifiable.

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So either like client xxx or client
initials or just the client first name.

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That way they weren't, there
was no violation of FERPA.

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There's no FERPA violation as well.

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Mm hmm.

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Um, I know like in, like some of my
favorite tabs to make, especially

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in Digication, were the ones about
my externship experiences and my

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teaching experiences, and they do
look very similar in terms of format.

224
00:14:34,815 --> 00:14:37,825
So I would put the picture of
the school, but make sure there

225
00:14:37,845 --> 00:14:39,135
aren't any students in there.

226
00:14:39,374 --> 00:14:42,865
But, um, she encouraged us to
put pictures of our students or

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00:14:42,865 --> 00:14:44,434
any thank you notes that we had.

228
00:14:44,765 --> 00:14:49,675
So I included that, but I made sure
to put little like emoji smiley faces.

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00:14:49,685 --> 00:14:51,805
Yeah, you've got your, yes, emoji.

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Over every single little kid's face
so that they're unidentifiable.

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And then you can see like just me, um,
without, which I think is kind of funny

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for some of my pictures because I'm, I'm
the size of my middle school students.

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But it's great because we get a
window into the environment, right?

234
00:15:11,695 --> 00:15:12,694
Yeah, yeah, and that was the thing.

235
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And that was the whole purpose.

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Like I wanted for whichever,
whoever the employer was or the

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hiring committee to almost be able
to picture me at their school.

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00:15:24,635 --> 00:15:28,054
Like you can see that I'm comfortable
in this school environment, all

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these different school environments.

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You see that I'm having a great
time with these kids, like be

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able to work with these kids.

242
00:15:33,405 --> 00:15:39,625
Um, like I want them to envision me in
their school and be comfortable choosing

243
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me and enthusiastic to choose me.

244
00:15:42,155 --> 00:15:42,605
Yeah.

245
00:15:42,895 --> 00:15:43,095
Yeah.

246
00:15:43,095 --> 00:15:49,315
And I just think about those words in
comparison to the kind of bullet point

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about the experience that would be on your
resume and how, how different that is.

248
00:15:54,855 --> 00:15:55,105
Yeah.

249
00:15:55,105 --> 00:15:57,855
This like paints the whole
picture of, of my experience.

250
00:15:57,865 --> 00:16:01,155
Like I always find that I have
a harder time cutting down

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on words than filling it out.

252
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So I'm just like, cool.

253
00:16:05,395 --> 00:16:06,325
This and this and this.

254
00:16:06,345 --> 00:16:08,225
I'm like, Oh, what about this project?

255
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It's hard to cut down all these like,
amazing things that we've accomplished.

256
00:16:12,645 --> 00:16:18,245
Um, so like, to be able to talk about
them more through the Digication

257
00:16:18,254 --> 00:16:21,695
website was more exciting than ever.

258
00:16:21,695 --> 00:16:26,125
Like, I was able to put down exp...
explicitly, what we did, what curriculum

259
00:16:26,125 --> 00:16:30,465
we use, how many kids I have, and how
often I saw them, like the fact that

260
00:16:30,465 --> 00:16:34,395
it was during COVID, like being able to
talk about what struggles we worked on,

261
00:16:34,395 --> 00:16:38,515
like how, how difficult was it teaching
through a mask and a plastic shield?

262
00:16:38,740 --> 00:16:45,305
So, really, allowed me to speak on
my experience and that... kind of

263
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naturally brought me to my next question.

264
00:16:48,265 --> 00:16:51,384
I love it when there's these beautiful
little segues because my next question

265
00:16:51,385 --> 00:16:58,004
was... If, you know, has it always
been easy for you to be able to talk

266
00:16:58,015 --> 00:17:04,544
about yourself and your experiences
or do you feel like that's something

267
00:17:04,544 --> 00:17:07,885
that's kind of grown over time?

268
00:17:07,885 --> 00:17:12,645
Or maybe it was, you know, in working
with this professor or maybe in some of

269
00:17:12,645 --> 00:17:16,275
your leadership roles that this started
to come out for you because some people

270
00:17:16,424 --> 00:17:22,784
have a really difficult time talking about
themselves and you definitely seem very

271
00:17:22,784 --> 00:17:27,374
comfortable with it now and you definitely
seem like you're very comfortable with

272
00:17:27,505 --> 00:17:31,325
it through, you know, all the information
that you've shared in your portfolio,

273
00:17:31,325 --> 00:17:33,985
but that, has that always been the case?

274
00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:38,090
Yeah, so definitely did not
come out of nowhere overnight.

275
00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:46,255
Um, so I would say it started, um, a
little bit in high school where I, I went

276
00:17:46,255 --> 00:17:50,275
to a high school where I didn't have many
friends coming in from middle school.

277
00:17:50,275 --> 00:17:54,164
And I know I had, I had to push
myself to make new friends and make

278
00:17:54,165 --> 00:17:56,865
new connections, um, from the start.

279
00:17:57,135 --> 00:18:03,015
However, I think it really began and
like continued to push where I am now.

280
00:18:03,425 --> 00:18:10,865
Um, my sophomore year of college actually,
and I think it lines up very nicely Um,

281
00:18:10,885 --> 00:18:16,775
because my freshman year, I was, uh,
a bio major on the pre med track, not

282
00:18:16,775 --> 00:18:22,244
enjoying my classes, having a really
tough time studying and not going out.

283
00:18:23,055 --> 00:18:29,404
Um, but at the very end of freshman
year, getting the RA position, the

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00:18:29,404 --> 00:18:34,314
Resident Assistant position, where
I was all of a sudden like sprung

285
00:18:34,345 --> 00:18:37,754
into this leadership position that
I really hoped and prayed for.

286
00:18:38,195 --> 00:18:43,754
Um, because then at that I was a,
I was a leadership role model here.

287
00:18:43,754 --> 00:18:49,684
I'm like being able to have a reason,
have a why to push myself to not

288
00:18:49,704 --> 00:18:57,104
only enjoy, um, college life and like
living away from home and dorming.

289
00:18:57,475 --> 00:19:01,524
But now I also have to kind of
market this and sell this and,

290
00:19:02,334 --> 00:19:06,214
invite other first year students
to feel welcome on campus as well.

291
00:19:06,234 --> 00:19:10,814
So having them come out to events
and showing them different resources

292
00:19:10,814 --> 00:19:15,684
and different, um, spaces that we
had, um, and hosting these spaces and

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00:19:15,684 --> 00:19:18,365
being able to explain like, 'Oh, like,
this is what we're doing and this

294
00:19:18,365 --> 00:19:19,814
is what we have planned for today.'

295
00:19:19,814 --> 00:19:22,920
And like, like 'I have free pizza,'
like 'you want to come here?' And

296
00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:29,499
like 'come out at eight o'clock on a
Tuesday?' So like being able to have

297
00:19:29,499 --> 00:19:35,719
a reason, have a why that pushes me to
be comfortable in my skin, be confident

298
00:19:35,719 --> 00:19:40,329
and like, sharing not only about myself,
but about Stony Brook and I feel like

299
00:19:40,329 --> 00:19:45,419
that's also what allowed me to learn
so much about the school and now have

300
00:19:45,419 --> 00:19:47,099
so much pride about the school too.

301
00:19:47,619 --> 00:19:48,319
Yes.

302
00:19:48,359 --> 00:19:57,234
Well, you, you definitely exude that
and, I can imagine that, you know, the,

303
00:19:57,674 --> 00:20:03,274
the comfort that you have in sharing
who you are and your experiences

304
00:20:03,304 --> 00:20:08,934
probably really resonates with the
students that you work with now also.

305
00:20:09,354 --> 00:20:15,119
So it's wonderful that you had that RA
experience on campus and you know, I

306
00:20:15,139 --> 00:20:22,629
think this kind of, um, storytelling and
highlighting your achievements, so your

307
00:20:22,629 --> 00:20:29,189
portfolio is reinforced that and has
this, uh, kind of additional audience

308
00:20:29,199 --> 00:20:31,919
around who you are and what you do.

309
00:20:32,644 --> 00:20:36,494
And I think, you know, this kind of
celebration of who you are and your

310
00:20:36,494 --> 00:20:43,294
experiences and your passion for speech
and working with students probably really

311
00:20:43,294 --> 00:20:49,014
inspires all of the people that you work
with, the students and the, the colleagues

312
00:20:49,014 --> 00:20:51,774
that you have at your school today.

313
00:20:52,514 --> 00:20:53,084
Thank you.

314
00:20:54,064 --> 00:20:55,144
Yeah, I was curious.

315
00:20:55,144 --> 00:20:57,524
So, as a recent graduate.

316
00:20:57,904 --> 00:21:02,674
But, you know, what, what are some
of the connections that you've

317
00:21:02,674 --> 00:21:06,854
already fostered as an alumni?

318
00:21:06,864 --> 00:21:13,354
Or what are some of the relationships or
connections that you hope to keep, um, now

319
00:21:13,354 --> 00:21:15,534
that you've graduated from the university?

320
00:21:16,104 --> 00:21:16,904
Absolutely.

321
00:21:16,904 --> 00:21:23,229
So, um, I know, luckily Stony Brook is
only, uh, a two hour train ride away.

322
00:21:23,649 --> 00:21:25,659
Uh, happy to hear about that.

323
00:21:25,669 --> 00:21:28,979
I know like I, I'm definitely
on their alumni list.

324
00:21:28,979 --> 00:21:31,229
I like to know when
homecomings are and whatnot.

325
00:21:31,624 --> 00:21:35,334
Um, but also I, I stay very
close in contact with a lot of

326
00:21:35,334 --> 00:21:36,814
my friends who are still there.

327
00:21:37,114 --> 00:21:40,274
Um, also fellow alums
from the college as well.

328
00:21:40,664 --> 00:21:47,024
Um, I would say my biggest contribution
still to this day is, um, being

329
00:21:47,024 --> 00:21:50,184
part of a program called SLPeers.

330
00:21:50,464 --> 00:21:56,034
So our speech language pathology is
usually an SLP, and we have a program

331
00:21:56,034 --> 00:22:01,334
that we made with, um, peers that comes
with it and it's a mentor-mentee program.

332
00:22:01,534 --> 00:22:05,984
So I luckily still have a,
a mentee in the program.

333
00:22:06,264 --> 00:22:10,214
And so it's really great still
seeing where they are now in their

334
00:22:10,214 --> 00:22:15,254
academic journey, having, um, to give
them advice and talking about their

335
00:22:15,254 --> 00:22:19,304
experiences and their externships and
rooting them on because just a year

336
00:22:19,304 --> 00:22:20,814
ago, I was in their exact same shoes.

337
00:22:20,815 --> 00:22:21,634
You were right there.

338
00:22:22,134 --> 00:22:22,624
Yeah.

339
00:22:23,294 --> 00:22:28,274
Like I, I know, like I talked to them at
least once every two weeks, like being

340
00:22:28,274 --> 00:22:31,314
able to share like, Oh, like you got
this, like, Oh, like, where did you get

341
00:22:31,314 --> 00:22:33,084
placed for your externship this year?

342
00:22:33,084 --> 00:22:36,184
Like, Oh, like how,
how, how'd your test go?

343
00:22:36,194 --> 00:22:41,529
Or what are some places that you're
looking to apply to for Your CF, like

344
00:22:41,529 --> 00:22:46,159
post grad and any advice that I can
give or we have our licensing exam,

345
00:22:46,159 --> 00:22:48,709
which is the practice and I know a
lot of them are studying for that

346
00:22:48,729 --> 00:22:52,299
then and being able to share that
material with them, like, it's nice to

347
00:22:52,299 --> 00:22:54,929
pass down like all this information.

348
00:22:54,929 --> 00:22:58,834
And you know, the, Cause I, I didn't
come in with this empty-handed either.

349
00:22:58,834 --> 00:23:04,224
Like I, I had a wonderful mentor
too, who, who shared her fountain

350
00:23:04,224 --> 00:23:06,434
of, of wisdom with me too.

351
00:23:06,474 --> 00:23:09,514
So being able to pass that
along feels like you're, you're

352
00:23:09,934 --> 00:23:11,274
part of something so much more.

353
00:23:11,789 --> 00:23:17,329
And then, uh, of course, still being very
involved, like I, I love being part of,

354
00:23:17,579 --> 00:23:22,569
um, the admissions committees too, as
well as, uh, I guess now as like an alumni

355
00:23:22,599 --> 00:23:28,379
interviewer, but I was, um, a student
interviewer, um, during the time, and now,

356
00:23:28,379 --> 00:23:33,349
um, um, they send invitations out to the
alumni to see if they'd like to be part

357
00:23:33,349 --> 00:23:36,639
of the, um, admissions committee board.

358
00:23:36,879 --> 00:23:40,139
So that's something that I look
forward to taking part in and, you

359
00:23:40,139 --> 00:23:44,619
know, continuing my, my involvement
in the program and at Stony Brook.

360
00:23:45,409 --> 00:23:46,659
Oh, that is wonderful.

361
00:23:46,689 --> 00:23:53,229
And I'm sure that you'll be an inspiration
to our listeners as well and anyone that

362
00:23:53,259 --> 00:23:57,509
comes to see your extraordinary portfolio.

363
00:23:57,589 --> 00:23:58,648
Thank you so much.

364
00:23:58,648 --> 00:23:59,559
We appreciate you.

365
00:24:00,129 --> 00:24:07,079
Yes, I so appreciate you taking the
time to to join me and talk about your

366
00:24:07,099 --> 00:24:12,929
extraordinary achievements and all that
you've done and really looking forward to

367
00:24:12,939 --> 00:24:15,379
to sharing your story with our listeners.

368
00:24:15,409 --> 00:24:16,230
Thank you so much.

369
00:24:16,230 --> 00:24:17,399
I'm so flattered.

370
00:24:17,399 --> 00:24:18,859
Thank you so much for having me.

371
00:24:19,649 --> 00:24:20,469
Absolutely.

372
00:24:20,539 --> 00:24:21,419
Take good care.

373
00:24:21,859 --> 00:24:22,829
Thank you as well.

374
00:24:23,859 --> 00:24:25,989
This concludes our conversation.

375
00:24:26,229 --> 00:24:30,609
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376
00:24:30,609 --> 00:24:35,789
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377
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00:24:41,714 --> 00:24:45,764
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00:24:45,769 --> 00:24:48,764
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381
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383
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