About Us
GOLDEN APPLE SCHOLAR GIVES BACK TO HER COMMUNITY
JENNY MA, CLASS OF 2008
At age 13, Jenny Ma immigrated to the United States from Guangdong, China. With few English skills, she entered a first grade language class at John C. Haines Elementary School in Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood. But within weeks, she started picking up the language and advanced quickly, determined to work toward her long held goal to become a teacher.
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Lake Forest College prepares students for their chosen careers through experiential learning opportunities
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During her senior year of high school, Jenny became a Golden Apple Scholar, which granted her a college scholarship and ongoing training in exchange for becoming a teacher. She decided to pursue an education degree at Lake Forest College, where she gained hands-on experience in the classroom as a student teacher in a nearby elementary school.
She also worked with professional teachers and Lake Forest faculty, who instilled the responsibility of developing a warm classroom environment. “They taught me about caring for the ‘whole child’ — not just focusing on test scores but on their social development too,” she says.
After graduating from Lake Forest last May, Jenny returned to Haines Elementary School in Chinatown, but this time as a second grade teacher. Once in the shoes of her immigrant students, she knows what they are going through and wants to serve as a positive role model. Fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin, Jenny is also working to close the language gap between parents and school officials in a school where 80 percent of students speak Chinese.
“What they lack is confidence and self esteem because they are new to this country,” says Jenny, who recently became certified to teach bilingual classes. “I want to give them the hope that they can succeed.”