Jonathan Daniels Personal Statement

Martin Luther King Jr. praised Jonathan Daniels for the heroic deed that cost Jonathan his life. Jonathan is a hero for sacrificing his own life in the process of advocating for those who must have felt helpless in their situation. At the time of his death Jonathan was fighting for diversity. Jonathan had an understanding of the human mind that many do not. He recognized that regardless of history and biology all humans feel pain and that growth as a society only occurs when we accept and embrace all others. I believe that my own personal experiences working to make children and adolescents comfortable and witnessing the effects of trauma and neglect in development has helped me to understand and appreciate diversity in a way that I hope is similar to that of Jonathan Daniels.
When I began working at

In both general and special education classes I quickly noticed signs of anxiety and stress in many of the students. The focus in the classrooms seemed to be always on gaining high test scores and keeping the students GPA high. I also noticed how much better the students seemed to learn when they were working in a comfortable environment. When I first started working at the high school I was worried that I would not be able to control the behavior of twenty to thirty students. After realizing that I did not want to control the behaviors of the students I started to work to make each student feel comfortable and safe. I worked to put myself in each students shoes and consider what would make me comfortable in their situation. I found that by respecting each student as an equal that not only would they respect me but also that they worked better with each other when they were comfortable. It has been easy for me to notice how vulnerable the self esteem of many high school students is and I work hard to help increase the self-confidence of every