Welcome to Digication Scholars Conversations.
I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll.
In this episode, you'll hear part two of my conversation with Sharron
Huang, recent graduate of Stony Brook University, where she received a BA in
Linguistics, an MA in teaching English to speakers of other languages, and
an MS in Speech Language Pathology.
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You did an extraordinary job sharing the clinical experiences that I
think, you know, would be so relevant in them making decisions about who
is going to kind of go to the next.
level, you know, beyond just viewing the resumes, who are they going
to make initial contact to, who is going to make it to the, you know,
various rounds of interviews that I'm sure happen, who becomes in that
final list of candidates to consider.
So, um, and alongside all of these clinical experiences you had, something
that we don't always see in, um, these kinds of professional portfolios is
that you had a section where you were including recommendation letters.
So people have a chance, you know, to get some kind of boots on the
ground information about what it was like working with you too from other
people before they even, you know, maybe invite you in for an interview.
What was it like for you to kind of contact people that you
are interested in including a recommendation on your portfolio.
Yeah, absolutely.
So if you do go to my Digication for all the listeners, like I have quite
a number of recommendation letters.
Um, I, I, I don't have anything.
I'm happy to share them.
Um, so like I said before, like I've, Quite, quite amount of involvement
throughout, um, my time at Stony Brook.
So I was able to be real, very close with my academic, um, professors and whatnot.
So like they were happy to write me a letter of recommendation, especially
in such a close knit, um, cohort and program as Stony Brook's, uh,
speech language pathology masters.
Like we are, we were quite a - a tight - quite small cohort of just 29 students.
I was also, um On the, the leadership board for, um, our cohort as well.
So that, that helped definitely get me very close with a lot of our professors
as I would always like often go to like office hours or I'd stay behind and
help out as a student assistant too.
So luckily I was able to get really close with them and they were happy to write
me a letter of recommendation as well.
So they were, of course, happy to do it, and with it being a relatively new program
as well, um, they were, like, our success is their success, and that, I think, is
also why I chose to come back to Stony Brook, because I, I had other choices.
I was thinking about, like, whether or not I wanted to stay back in the city, because
I had already moved back to Brooklyn.
Um, and I considered staying in the city and applying to, I did apply to other,
um, speech programs within the city, but I knew that, like, I personally had Dr.
Fabus, who's the head of the program, um, I had taken her classes as a pre-speech
track student, um, in the summers and in the winters, um, so being able to, like,
have that personal experience with her, and I know how much she's invested into
the program and invested in our success.
I, I knew she would be happy to write a letter of recommendation,
especially with how, how involved I was with the program and how she
really would love us to see us succeed.
So, academic recommendations, they were all super fantastic.
The externship recommendations were actually my clinical professor's idea.
Um, she highly encouraged all of us to ask for one immediately at, towards
the end of our externship, so that way we weren't asking for a recommendation
from someone we haven't seen in a year.
Now, while you're fresh in their minds.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
So.
So, um, luckily I've had amazing, wonderful externship experiences.
I had, um, my very first one at the United Cerebral Palsy and that was
really my first experience working with a medically complex community, especially
amongst, uh, student populations.
And that is actually very similar to where I work in now when I work with,
um, students who have special needs and having that exposure genuinely is...
I believe that's why I got the position that I have now, um, and she was happy
to write me a letter of recommendation.
Uh, I worked in outpatient private practice and that was super great.
Like being able to collect these experiences and look back so fondly,
I'm very lucky to be able to do that.
And then my last, my last externship was in the New York City DOE and
that was actually very last minute opportunity where I was almost assigned
to A school district on Long Island.
But my clinical professor knew that I wanted to come back home for us.
And she knew that the DOE was always a goal for me.
So she very, very nicely and graciously pulled some strings and had our contract
early so that I was able to do it because she was gonna have it done
for the following cohort just based off of like the timing and everything
and and naturally with the program being on Long Island there aren't too
many people from the city who come to make the trek out there for their
graduate program since we do have many graduate programs um for speech
pathology in the city but she she was very kind to have that work out for me.
So I had my externship recommendations there.
And then of course with my, my many extracurriculars, I
had a great support staff.
Many, many support staffs where, um, I reached out to
my current staff at that time.
And the people who I hadn't talked to like two, three years.
Who I know had, they had written a letter of recommendation for me a while ago,
but I asked them because I see them every now and then at RA events or campus
residence, um, like networking or career day, like being able to still have that
connection with them, even though I hadn't worked with them or directly under them
for like two, three, four, five years.
Like they, the fact that, We had such a memorable time and that we were still
on great terms, like, the fact that they were willing to, to write me a letter of
recommendation, I'm greatly appreciative.
Yeah, you clearly made very strong connections.
Yeah, like, and they were so detailed too, like, they would write in, they would
write in different examples and stories and like, like, wow, like, being able
to, to have such a, like being able to see what they, they thought about me too.
And to have it written out in paper was so reassuring.
And like, I'm like, Oh, look, I know I had an amazing time, like working with you.
It's to hear all these like wonderful words that you're saying about me.
Just, I feel elated, you know?
And then, um, my last, my last, um, category, I guess, of letters of
recommendations was summarizing my teaching experiences because I had not
only done my long term subbing out on, out in the city, I had also done a maternity
leave replacement as well on Long Island.
So I was able to get a mix of both and, um, I had also volunteered during the
pandemic to, to do a program, um, And where we were reading to a lot of the
parents, kids who were involved in the Stony Brook community, because imagine
like being back home in the middle of the, in the middle of the pandemic with your
kid and you're constantly with your kid, like naturally these parents need a break.
They're, they don't, I'm sure like they're petrified with what's
happening in the world right now.
And then, Hey, like all my classes are remote anyway.
So I couldn't go back.
I couldn't go back in.
I couldn't go back in subbing with, with all the schools closed.
So that was genuinely like such a great way to use my time in
such a meaningful, impactful way.
Yeah, yeah.
It's extraordinary.
So I was curious, so you mentioned you, um, were, you spent about a
year and a half, maybe almost two years working on the, uh, ePortfolio.
As part of, it sounds like there were three different classes, so did
you start in one and then it kind of carried through the other three?
What was the professor's name?
I'm sorry if I missed that earlier.
Yeah, Elisabel Chang.
Okay.
So it sounds like she gave some great advice.
Oh, yeah.
And then she, she actually showed us some, some of the Digications
from previ, the previous cohort too.
So she showed examples of like what you could possibly do with this.
And it definitely got the wheels turning, of course.
Uh huh.
It was nice to like, see what my peers were doing and like, take some of
like, their, like, their great work and how they were displaying it and
different features and gadgets to use.
Um, While also like figuring out my own style.
How do I want to present it?
How, what kind of, like, I have extra teaching experience.
I went to the ASHA convention.
I really wanted to highlight that because I was specifically related to the field.
Um, but a lot of, uh, a lot of the, um, my peers and I had a lot of similar tabs and
whatnot too, because like we have the same classes, we had, um, three externships,
we should have a contact information.
And, my professor was really great in that.
She had a rubric for us, too, so that we started off with requiring
a certain amount of things, um, our first, um, assignment.
So that way it was like a slow build to it instead of just having all these
expectations done immediately overnight.
So that was, it was nice to like always be like, Oh, like I have some spare time.
Let me just add a little something to my, my Digication now so that
it doesn't build up over time.
Yeah.
Yeah, often when we're working with, um, students that are part of
these kind of professional practice programs, there, there are kind of
big expectations for what it may look like at the end of the program?
And I know very often instructors and, you know, those that are kind of
thinking about what, you know, what the requirements might be or what, um,
kind of the grading expectations may be in designing some of these rubrics,
how, how much structure do they want?
To give the students to start or how, how much do they just want the students
to be able to kind of take their, take the reins and have ownership over
how it's organized and what content is going to go in it, how much.
Mentorship is going to be involved.
How often are they going to be able to see peers portfolios
as they're being developed?
And it sounds like there was some natural sharing that was
happening between your cohort.
Was that something that was kind of built into time that you had in class
or did you find that you guys were just kind of doing that on your free time?
Did the professor encourage you to?
Share with each other.
What was that process like?
Yeah, a mix of all of that.
We, I remember in the classes we would... she would have dedicated
time for us to work on our Digication portfolio, for us to talk to our
neighbors, for us to ask her any questions in the moment if we had any.
So she definitely built into that, that time to create a Digication portfolio
within the class time so that we were, um, around different inspiration or
like have that... have her able, like, be able to quickly look at our, our
website to see if there are anything that she wanted to add or like, oh,
should I make my head shot over here?
Should I put it over here?
Should I not have it at all?
Those are like quick questions for her to answer too.
Mm hmm.
And it sounds like you got some guidance too, and correct me if I'm
wrong, but it looks like you might've gotten some guidance because you were
a part of these kind of Clinicals and you also had these teaching
experiences that you wanted to share.
But, there's always, you know, privacy kinds of guidelines
and how much is shared.
Does she give you some kind of coaching on best practices there too?
Yeah, definitely.
So we, we had our rubric and it was straightforward, but it
definitely left a lot of room for creative decisions and, and whatnot.
So, um, she, she listed that she wanted work from every single class.
And your resume, of course, and your cover letter.
You weren't required to put down any extracurriculars because some students
might just simply not have any.
But for the information that we put, I know in a lot of our academic
work, we have our peers names, or our students names, or our clients names.
So she, she made sure to tell us to make, um, to make them
unidentifiable, unidentifiable.
So either like client xxx or client initials or just the client first name.
That way they weren't, there was no violation of FERPA.
There's no FERPA violation as well.
Mm hmm.
Um, I know like in, like some of my favorite tabs to make, especially
in Digication, were the ones about my externship experiences and my
teaching experiences, and they do look very similar in terms of format.
So I would put the picture of the school, but make sure there
aren't any students in there.
But, um, she encouraged us to put pictures of our students or
any thank you notes that we had.
So I included that, but I made sure to put little like emoji smiley faces.
Yeah, you've got your, yes, emoji.
Over every single little kid's face so that they're unidentifiable.
And then you can see like just me, um, without, which I think is kind of funny
for some of my pictures because I'm, I'm the size of my middle school students.
But it's great because we get a window into the environment, right?
Yeah, yeah, and that was the thing.
And that was the whole purpose.
Like I wanted for whichever, whoever the employer was or the
hiring committee to almost be able to picture me at their school.
Like you can see that I'm comfortable in this school environment, all
these different school environments.
You see that I'm having a great time with these kids, like be
able to work with these kids.
Um, like I want them to envision me in their school and be comfortable choosing
me and enthusiastic to choose me.
Yeah.
And I just think about those words in comparison to the kind of bullet point
about the experience that would be on your resume and how, how different that is.
Yeah.
This like paints the whole picture of, of my experience.
Like I always find that I have a harder time cutting down
on words than filling it out.
So I'm just like, cool.
This and this and this.
I'm like, Oh, what about this project?
It's hard to cut down all these like, amazing things that we've accomplished.
Um, so like, to be able to talk about them more through the Digication
website was more exciting than ever.
Like, I was able to put down exp... explicitly, what we did, what curriculum
we use, how many kids I have, and how often I saw them, like the fact that
it was during COVID, like being able to talk about what struggles we worked on,
like how, how difficult was it teaching through a mask and a plastic shield?
So, really, allowed me to speak on my experience and that... kind of
naturally brought me to my next question.
I love it when there's these beautiful little segues because my next question
was... If, you know, has it always been easy for you to be able to talk
about yourself and your experiences or do you feel like that's something
that's kind of grown over time?
Or maybe it was, you know, in working with this professor or maybe in some of
your leadership roles that this started to come out for you because some people
have a really difficult time talking about themselves and you definitely seem very
comfortable with it now and you definitely seem like you're very comfortable with
it through, you know, all the information that you've shared in your portfolio,
but that, has that always been the case?
Yeah, so definitely did not come out of nowhere overnight.
Um, so I would say it started, um, a little bit in high school where I, I went
to a high school where I didn't have many friends coming in from middle school.
And I know I had, I had to push myself to make new friends and make
new connections, um, from the start.
However, I think it really began and like continued to push where I am now.
Um, my sophomore year of college actually, and I think it lines up very nicely Um,
because my freshman year, I was, uh, a bio major on the pre med track, not
enjoying my classes, having a really tough time studying and not going out.
Um, but at the very end of freshman year, getting the RA position, the
Resident Assistant position, where I was all of a sudden like sprung
into this leadership position that I really hoped and prayed for.
Um, because then at that I was a, I was a leadership role model here.
I'm like being able to have a reason, have a why to push myself to not
only enjoy, um, college life and like living away from home and dorming.
But now I also have to kind of market this and sell this and,
invite other first year students to feel welcome on campus as well.
So having them come out to events and showing them different resources
and different, um, spaces that we had, um, and hosting these spaces and
being able to explain like, 'Oh, like, this is what we're doing and this
is what we have planned for today.'
And like, like 'I have free pizza,' like 'you want to come here?' And
like 'come out at eight o'clock on a Tuesday?' So like being able to have
a reason, have a why that pushes me to be comfortable in my skin, be confident
and like, sharing not only about myself, but about Stony Brook and I feel like
that's also what allowed me to learn so much about the school and now have
so much pride about the school too.
Yes.
Well, you, you definitely exude that and, I can imagine that, you know, the,
the comfort that you have in sharing who you are and your experiences
probably really resonates with the students that you work with now also.
So it's wonderful that you had that RA experience on campus and you know, I
think this kind of, um, storytelling and highlighting your achievements, so your
portfolio is reinforced that and has this, uh, kind of additional audience
around who you are and what you do.
And I think, you know, this kind of celebration of who you are and your
experiences and your passion for speech and working with students probably really
inspires all of the people that you work with, the students and the, the colleagues
that you have at your school today.
Thank you.
Yeah, I was curious.
So, as a recent graduate.
But, you know, what, what are some of the connections that you've
already fostered as an alumni?
Or what are some of the relationships or connections that you hope to keep, um, now
that you've graduated from the university?
Absolutely.
So, um, I know, luckily Stony Brook is only, uh, a two hour train ride away.
Uh, happy to hear about that.
I know like I, I'm definitely on their alumni list.
I like to know when homecomings are and whatnot.
Um, but also I, I stay very close in contact with a lot of
my friends who are still there.
Um, also fellow alums from the college as well.
Um, I would say my biggest contribution still to this day is, um, being
part of a program called SLPeers.
So our speech language pathology is usually an SLP, and we have a program
that we made with, um, peers that comes with it and it's a mentor-mentee program.
So I luckily still have a, a mentee in the program.
And so it's really great still seeing where they are now in their
academic journey, having, um, to give them advice and talking about their
experiences and their externships and rooting them on because just a year
ago, I was in their exact same shoes.
You were right there.
Yeah.
Like I, I know, like I talked to them at least once every two weeks, like being
able to share like, Oh, like you got this, like, Oh, like, where did you get
placed for your externship this year?
Like, Oh, like how, how, how'd your test go?
Or what are some places that you're looking to apply to for Your CF, like
post grad and any advice that I can give or we have our licensing exam,
which is the practice and I know a lot of them are studying for that
then and being able to share that material with them, like, it's nice to
pass down like all this information.
And you know, the, Cause I, I didn't come in with this empty-handed either.
Like I, I had a wonderful mentor too, who, who shared her fountain
of, of wisdom with me too.
So being able to pass that along feels like you're, you're
part of something so much more.
And then, uh, of course, still being very involved, like I, I love being part of,
um, the admissions committees too, as well as, uh, I guess now as like an alumni
interviewer, but I was, um, a student interviewer, um, during the time, and now,
um, um, they send invitations out to the alumni to see if they'd like to be part
of the, um, admissions committee board.
So that's something that I look forward to taking part in and, you
know, continuing my, my involvement in the program and at Stony Brook.
Oh, that is wonderful.
And I'm sure that you'll be an inspiration to our listeners as well and anyone that
comes to see your extraordinary portfolio.
Thank you so much.
We appreciate you.
Yes, I so appreciate you taking the time to to join me and talk about your
extraordinary achievements and all that you've done and really looking forward to
to sharing your story with our listeners.
Thank you so much.
I'm so flattered.
Thank you so much for having me.
Absolutely.
Take good care.
Thank you as well.
This concludes our conversation.
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