Building Confidence, Skills and Knowledge

Interview WITH Katerina Demo

K-3 Reading Corps Alum

Meet Katerina – Katerina Demo is finishing up her college career in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She has a passion for education and working with children so that they can continue to grow and develop their learning skills. Katerina is majoring in Elementary Education and minoring in English Language Arts at Aquinas College. She played four years of soccer at Aquinas and really values the relationships that she has built with peers, teammates, and professors. This past semester, Katerina continued to share her passion for teaching by serving second and third grade students as a K-3 Reading Corps Interventionist at Estabrook Elementary in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

You decided to use MEC’s Reading Corps service to meet your practicum requirement for your degree. What led you to pursue this opportunity? As a college student I think that it is really important to get real life experience in the field that you are going into. I chose to use MEC’s Reading Corps service because of the flexibility and knowledge that I would and did gain from this opportunity. I was able to work with real life teachers, gain a network of teachers and meet fellow interventionists.

What are your career goals? How did serving with MEC help you reach your goals? I am getting a degree in Elementary Education and I am minoring in English Language Arts. I feel that MEC allowed me to learn more about different strategies and interventions to use and will be used to help my future students. I think that the skills and knowledge that I learned will be beneficial when I have a classroom of my own.

In what ways has your service experience prepared you to be an educator? I was able to work with other people who were interventionists, peer coaches, and master coaches. I also was able to take part in data meetings and real conversations with teachers.

What skills have you developed and strengthened through your service? I have strengthened my confidence, skills, and knowledge in different interventions and strategies to work on with my own future students.

What’s one lesson that you’ve learned through your service that you will take with you into your career? I think remembering and learning that everyone learns differently and at different rates. I think that it is super important to encourage each of my students to learn at their own pace and that they can all learn.

How do you plan to use your education award? I plan on using it to help pay for my last semester of college as well as my textbooks for this semester.

Is there anything else you want to share about your experience serving with MEC’s Reading Corps? I think that this is an amazing experience for anyone who was in my position. I was able to learn a lot about myself and I feel that this experience was very beneficial.