My first full time job was at North Lake College working as an academic coach. I would never forget the job that made me felt like the little ambassador of the college. The job came to me as a surprise from my college instructor. What happened was I had the same history college instructor for five years because I made myself take her class again and again until I could ace her it. It took me five semesters to accomplish this. That was hard work because while taking her classes I was also taking other history classes from other instructors so that I can broaden my knowledge. United States was my passion and still is. I considered her class prestigious because in order for the students to receive an “A” letter grade from her, they have to earn at least a 93 average as the semester grade. On my last day of my last semester with her, she asked me if I could work for her. She would hire me as an academic coach for peer tutoring. I would be able to organize and conduct my own tutoring sessions, be her substitute teacher when she needed me to and keep her up to date on how her students are doing. I accepted the offer right away because history was my major and here was my once in the life time opportunity. This position would train me for my future as a teacher, I believed. I didn’t need to go through interview or turn in any resume so that was a relief. If I had to have an interview I wouldn’t know which experiences to talk about considering I have never worked before. The job came to me as a part time job but I took it like a real full time permanent employment. The reason was I felt that every student I tutored needed my personal attentions. College students had their own priorities and so I scheduled my tutoring sessions around their times so that almost every one of them would be able to attend my tutoring. My job involved working with people of all ages so earning acceptances and respects from the students were hard at time. I was only 20 years old when I taught women and men in their forties, critiquing their essays, and talking to them about their histories. Sometime I prayed that the students would not curse at me. In the worst of time, I kept my spirit up by telling myself to think of how much customer service experiences I was gaining from the job. One day my instructor confronted me about working extra hours which I was not supposed to do. I told her that I saw how scare the students were. I saw the same fear that I had to overcome when I took her class. Those were the reasons I gave her for why I worked extra hours. After much talk about why I should not work so many hours, my instructors gave in to my request for full time position. Can’t you believe it? It was a miracle that I even got a job. When I was finally able to hold down the job, I found respect from my boss. I worked as an academic coach for three years and then I resigned so that I can move to Viet Nam with my husband. I felt that it was right for me to make a transition. I had ample of experiences to take the next levels in my life. When I came back to America, I was given my job back. I worked for two months then I was layoff because the school was short on budget and had to lay off all teacher assistants.
Kim Truong