This post is written by Madison Miller. It was originally featured on the Women’s Center WordPress, which you can find here.

With much discussion in Women’s Center staff meetings about actively applying our work in the Center as student staff members to other areas of our lives, I have recently been thinking a lot about how my experiences and education in social justice and activism coincide with the various roles and responsibilities I hold outside of the Center. Currently in the process of working towards receiving teacher certification in elementary education, one of my most valued roles this academic year is my internship as a student teacher in a fourth grade classroom. Watching my students embrace new concepts and grow as individuals each week has not only brought an immense amount of pleasure and fulfillment into my life, but it has also caused me to think rather critically about how learning in the classroom translates outside to the “real world”. I’m not talking about how that math equation we learned last week can help us to calculate a tip on a restaurant bill, or how that new vocabulary word can be used to impress our relatives, but instead about how simple classroom dynamics can set a pretty important example for those of us who are long removed from our own elementary school classrooms.

Although we live in a society that preaches equality and fairness, perhaps one of the most important concepts I have learned in the classroom thus far is that equality and fairness are far from interchangeable terms. Imagine a classroom where students are instructed to independently read a chapter out of a textbook and take notes on what they are reading. Several students are reading quietly to themselves and taking notes on a sheet of paper, while another student is listening to an audiobook through headphones, and yet another student is talking to a classroom volunteer who is writing notes down for the student. If this were an equal environment, all students would be required to complete the assignment in the exact same way. But is equality in this situation really fair? Without certain accommodations, students with learning disabilities or special needs may be unable to complete the assignment on their own. The truth is, equality is only fair when everyone is the exact same to begin with. This is an extremely unlikely situation not only in the classroom, but in life in general. Instead of promoting fairness amongst individuals within a community, in actuality equality erases differences that exist within a group of individuals and only supports those with the most privilege. Equality is a “colorblind” approach to fairness and it can be especially harmful when it prevents students from lower income families and those who struggle with disabilities from obtaining the resources they need to succeed.

Because not all students (or people, for that matter) are born with the same abilities and some experience challenges that inhibit that their success, some individuals need more resources in order to just catch up to their peers. Therefore instead of talking about equality, we need to focus on another approach: equity. While equality simply seeks to level the playing field for everyone, equity seeks to provide more resources to those who need them. Take for example the large population of English Language Learners (ELLs) attending schools today. These students are often significantly behind their native-English speaking peers- not because they are unintelligent, but because they lack an upbringing that enables them to understand the language in which they are being taught. Therefore, these ELL students need more resources (perhaps in the form of ESOL classes or classroom accommodations) simply just to survive in the school system. Equity forces us to examine various privileges that exist within a community or a society and prompts us to make certain accommodations that will assist those with a lack of privilege. Instead of seeing just one route to success, equity forces us to pave multiple roads for multiple people. It isn’t an easy process by any means, but the extra work we put into through society through creating equitable situations brings us closer to fairness than equality ever will.

                                                          NEXT MONDAY!! 
A message from MIT: Lincoln Laboratory is committed to research and development. At MIT, scientists and engineers get to work on problems critical to national security.

If you are pursuing a PhD/MS/BS in any of the following majors, or a comparable scientific or technical field, our technical staff would like to meet you.

        We are currently recruiting the following majors:
- Electrical Engineering
- Computer Science or Cybersecurity
- Physics
- Mathematics
- Mechanical Engineering
- Bioengineering

Come and learn more about what we do and how to get involved!

Join Admissions Representatives from the following institutions for an information session about public health and how their graduate programs might align with your personal goals!

**Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health**

**Yale School of Public Health**

**Harvard School of Public Health**

**Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health**

Next WEDNESDAY October 29, 2014 from 12:00- 12:50 p.m. in the UC Ballroom, University Center right here on campus!

Don't miss out! Also, check out some cool research opportunities and see what other students have done in your field !

Caroline Bodnar

Role at the UMBC Career Center: I help people figure out "what they want to be when they grow up" and what steps they need to take to get there.

Q: Where have you earned your college degrees?

A: Undergrad = University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA. Wahoowa! Grad= Towson University in Towson, MD.

Q: What program(s) did you study? How did you choose your major?

A: B.A. in Psychology. I started out a Biology major on the pre-med track but decided that I wanted to help people without having to take all those advanced science and math courses. I basically took every Psych course the school offered because I loved the subject that much!

M.A. in Counseling Psychology

Q: Tell me about the job and internship process when you were in college. Were you able to find job/internship positions that were related to your major or your career interests?

A: I interviewed for a work-study on-campus job as a fiscal tech assistant in UVA's biomedical engineering department on my first day of class and was offered the job on the spot. I kept that job for all 4 years including summers because they gave me a raise every year. Internships were not really emphasized so I did not have any. However, I was a research assistant in a cognitive Psych lab for academic credit for 4 semesters.

Q: What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

A: “There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”

Q: Why should students visit the Career Center?

A: Students and alumni should visit because you don't have to do everything on your own. I never went to my college career center mistakenly thinking they could not help me. As a first generation college student, I didn't have anyone else to point me in the right direction so it would have made things infinitely easier if I had used the resources my school offered. Plus, we are fun and friendly people so students should not be intimidated to check us out.

Q: What is your favorite aspect about UMBC?

A: This is the fifth university I have worked for and while each one has had a unique culture and personality, I really like the small feel of UMBC and how supportive everyone is of each other. It is such a pleasure to work with UMBC students because they are so polite, hard-working, and appreciative. Plus, we're a little quirky and I think that's pretty cool.

Q: What is one item on your bucket list?

A: I really want to try sky-diving. I was all set to do it on my 30th birthday and then I discovered that I was pregnant so I decided to hold off for a bit. I also love travel and want to see as much of the world as I can in my lifetime.

Q: What is one aspect of the DC/Baltimore area that you often explore?

A: My husband and I like to visit off-the-beaten path places. One recent interesting find is the Mansion on O Street in DC where you can wonder around themed rooms and find secret passageways. I also love animals so the National Zoo is an old fave that is free!

Want to connect with Caroline or any of our great Career Center team? Call our office at 410-455-2216 or check out our contact us page here: http://careers.umbc.edu/aboutus/

Getting Your Dream Internship