From learner to teacher

By Devin Tran

Yulissa Gonzalez Ramos is a person who gets support from all directions. She has recently turned 17 and is currently a senior here at Yerba Buena High School. She used to go to Bridges middle school and her current favorite subject is Journalism. This class allowed her to open up and speak her mind freely without any judgment.

Like how everybody loves extra money, Gonzalez Ramos wanted to get some extra spending cash too. This would later lead to her family’s friends telling her she should apply for a job in order to get some money. She thought long and hard and decided she would get a job. And that job was McDonalds.

Yulissa: “I wanted to earn some extra money even though I am not necessarily paying any bills yet and car payments.”

In October last year, Gonzalez Ramos applied for her job at McDonalds. When she first started going to work, it was surprisingly fun to her, as she had something to do in her free time.  Over the years of working there, she slowly starts to dread going to work because of the constant repetition in her job.

In no time at all, she figured out why it was a bit aggravating to work at a fast food restaurant. She said “In this type of job, in any fast food place, it’s way harder than any other job because it’s the type of teamwork where if one person slows down, it slows down everyone else.

Yulissa: ” It’s not a good feeling to be dragged down from your co-worker’s actions.”

Working at McDonalds was never planned to be her actual job. She has recently been more interested in the teaching pathway. Her overall enjoyment for just taking care of younger people is what motivates her. If she were to be a teacher, she wouldn’t become a teacher who teaches a specific subject, but a teacher that teaches a lower grade level. 

Yulissa: “The grade that I probably want to teach would be kindergarten.”

She believes that she would have an easier time teaching simple things such as numbers, letters, and colors. She has confidence jumping into a teaching career for preschool because she has prior experience of taking care of her family’s babies, giving her good patience for dealing with smaller children. She is also able to be gentle with her voice and words and talk with an assuring voice to calm them down.

Yulissa: “I feel like ever since I was younger I always knew how to talk to them and take care of them because I am like the babysitter of the family.”