Education alumna makes herself at home in the classroom

While working as an admissions intern the summer after she graduated from The College of Wooster, Kaitlyn (Evans) Jue ’10, made a connection that led to her “dream job.” When Nancy Mellon and her son visited campus, Jue told them about her senior research project studying the process of diagnosing hearing loss in newborns, and “I watched her eyes immediately light up,” said Jue. As founder of the River School, an inclusionary school for young children with hearing loss in Washington, D.C., Mellon delighted in hearing about the project. For Jue, a communication sciences and disorders major and minor in early childhood education, learning about the River School intrigued her. “When I began my job search after student teaching she was the first person I contacted, and ten years later I’m still working there.”
Originally from Rhode Island, Jue felt hesitant about attending college in Ohio but quickly “fell in love with Wooster” and took advantage of the opportunities available. “At the time, I had no idea what I wanted to study, so I was looking for a school that would allow me to take classes across a variety of subject areas,” she said, admitting that she never thought she wanted to be a teacher after growing up with both parents in the profession. Her sophomore year, she took Introduction to Education with Megan Wereley, associate professor of education, “just for fun,” and “I was hooked,” she said. “I adored my field placement (in a pre-K Montessori program), and genuinely looked forward to being in the classroom every day. I just felt so comfortable and ‘at home.’”
Jue’s fascination with the fields of speech pathology and audiology led her to major in communication sciences and disorders in addition to completing her early childhood education certification, making her an ideal fit for her role at the River School. “In my classroom, I co-teach with a speech pathologist and use my understanding of early education and child development to support my class, while also applying the knowledge gained through my communication science and disorders coursework and my research to support my students with hearing loss and their families each day,” she said. “I left Wooster with a solid foundation in reading and understanding research, as well as a foundation of how to synthesize and apply findings to my work.”
Jue’s academic experience taught her to be a confident writer, which helps her in daily clinical and creative writing as a teacher. “I credit Wooster for instilling in me the importance of good writing,” she said, adding that the support she received from faculty helped shape her into a lifelong learner. “Because of my Wooster education, I am confident in my knowledge and skill set, yet I never back down from asking questions and seeking more information to better inform my practice as a teacher,” she said. Finding her unexpected “happy place” as a teacher, Jue draws similar inspiration from her students. “They challenge me in the best possible way. I’m convinced that I learn far more from them than they do from me. They push me to be the best teacher I can be, and I think I’ve grown into a better person because of them.”

Posted in Alumni on June 1, 2020.