Recent UW-Eau Claire graduate Maisee Yang. (UWEC photo)

When Maisee Yang graduated from UW-Eau Claire this month, she took with her a long list of goals that she hopes to accomplish during her future teaching career.

An elementary education major with a teaching English as a second language (TESOL) minor, Yang wants to find a job teaching fifth to eighth graders, but she also wants to someday teach abroad in Europe or Asia, something she says is “on my bucket list.”

While she already knows the Hmong and English languages, she would “love to learn a new language to teach overseas.”

Wherever her teaching career takes her, she wants to incorporate multiple cultures into school curriculums, says Yang, of Cottage Grove, Minnesota.

“Bringing awareness and acknowledging students’ cultural backgrounds can raise awareness not only in the classroom or schools but in their communities as well,” Yang says. “I also want to lead an extracurricular activity that I’m passionate about, whether it is a multicultural or math club, student council or yearbook.”

“Bringing awareness and acknowledging students’ cultural backgrounds can raise awareness not only in the classroom or schools but in their communities as well.” –Maisee Yang, UWEC elementary education graduate

Looking ahead, Yang says she is eager to eventually have student teachers in her classroom to “provide the same opportunities for them as I have now; I want to pay it forward.”

Through her classes and many outside-the-classroom opportunities, UW-Eau Claire has prepared her well to achieve those goals and more, Yang says.  

Being part of UW-Eau Claire’s Hmong Living and Learning Community and Blugold Beginnings program were especially meaningful, Yang says. Both programs taught her about honoring one’s identity and networking with other professionals, she says.

The Hmong Living and Learning Community “allowed me to embrace my identity along with individuals who shared the same ethnic identity,” Yang says. It also helped her “connect and empathize with my Hmong people and to build a community and a sense of belonging” in an unfamiliar place, Yang says.

“The best part of the Hmong Living Learning Community was unapologetically embracing my Hmong culture and language in a space that lacks the awareness of Hmong people,” Yang says. “We were able to make a stand for ourselves on a predominately white campus and let others know that we exist.”

Blugold Beginnings also was valuable, helping her meet other students of color who share similar views on education, Yang says. A highlight of being active in the organization was learning to “empathize with people of color and critically understand their stories,” she says.

“We all share similar lived experiences; however, some parts are uniquely different,” Yang says. “Honestly, it taught me that we, the first generation, are a blueprint and must uplift each other.”

Another highlight of her college career was participating in the Civil Rights Pilgrimage, an intercultural immersion experience that takes Blugolds and others to the historical sites of the civil rights movement.

Yang encourages current and future Blugolds to embrace the many opportunities UW-Eau Claire offers and to understand that their time in college is not always going to be a “smooth ride.”

“Explore new places, connect with people of diverse backgrounds, continue to grow and get comfortable being uncomfortable,” Yang says. “Do not limit yourself to anything, whether that is your own beliefs, a course you plan to take, a club on campus or simply conversing with a stranger.”