Manasi Singhal, is currently applying to a Master's program to become a history teacher.

Could you tell us a little about your background?  

 I was born in Mumbai, India but moved around a lot in the first 12 years of my life, living in over 20 different houses and going to 9 different schools.  I graduated from Lexington High School and have a BA in Government with a concentration in International Relations from Dartmouth College.  Among other positions, I have worked as a teacher/tutor, in event coordination in the non-profit industry, as a government contractor, and once, a long time ago, even as a writer for Lokvani.

 Can you tell us about your current position? How did you choose your field of work?  

 I am currently working as a Teacher at the Russian School of Math in Lexington, teaching math to varying level of students in grades 4-9.  Outside of RSM, I also tutor students in subject ranging from English and History to test preparation for the SAT, ACT, GRE, etc.

 Throughout my life, starting in high school and continuing in college and wherever I have moved and worked, I have always loved teaching.  Despite where I was or what work I was doing, I always came back to teaching as the thing that I truly enjoyed doing and gave me the greatest sense of fulfillment that I was doing something meaningful and transformative in life.

 How did you get to where you are today?

 In high school, for my community service commitments as part of the National Honor Society, I worked in the Youth Exploration in Science program, teaching 4^th and 5^th graders science concepts through hands on projects and experiments.  In college I was also involved in community service projects that worked with helping disadvantaged youth with their homework, math and reading and even worked on English with someone older as part of Adult Basic Education.  After graduating, no matter what other job I was working at the time, and in between full time jobs, I spent my time tutoring and teaching.

 All of this was while studying in college, working in event coordination for various non-profits, and working full time as a government contractor in DC.  At some point, I came to the realization that if teaching is what I love and keep coming back to, instead of working elsewhere and teaching on the side, I should be teaching full time and exploring those other interests on the side.

 What was your first job?

 My first real job, beyond various internships I have worked on, was working with Poonam Ahluwalia at the Youth Employment Summit (YES) Campaign.  This is an organization that seeks to increase youth employment around the world in sustainable fields that help their communities, such as renewable energy, information and communications technology, water and sanitation, HIV/AIDs, rural development, etc.

 I first started working with YES in 2004, when I was off from college and looking for something meaningful to do with my time.  I began as a volunteer helping them to put together their upcoming summit in Mexico and, by the time the summit was about to begin some months later, I was promoted to a full time employee and in charge of the coordination for the entire event.  This involved managing a program and the volunteers for an international conference with over 60 speakers and over 1000 delegates from around the world with very little prior experience. 

 It was a transformative experience for me and the positive feedback I received gave me a great boost of self-confidence in my abilities.  I had such a great time and met so many wonderful people that when I had the opportunity, I came back and ran subsequent conferences in Kenya in 2006 and Egypt in 2007.

What advice would you give to others who want a career like yours?

I have not had a traditional career path and it took me a long time to realize what it was that I actually wanted to do with my life.  What has really helped me and the best advice I can give others is, if you are not sure about what you want to do with your life, don’t stop looking.  Take the time to explore different opportunities that come your way and try new things.  Even if it doesn’t end up being what you ultimately choose as a career, each new position will teach you something knew and give you skills that you can use when you do find your way.

The worst thing you can do is do nothing or just take a position to pay the bills and not try for anything else.  There are so many wonderful opportunities out there if you are just open to the possibilities.  Most of the transformative experiences I have had have also started as volunteer or small positions that evolved over time so I would also recommend not only looking at paid positions.

What has been your greatest professional accomplishment so far?

I could say that my greatest professional accomplishments are the praise and positive feedback I have received when successfully completing an event I have organized.  Being told by someone who works in an esteemed organization like the United Nations that you are one of the best people they have worked with for a conference is no small feat.

I could also say that one of my greatest professional accomplishments was when I received an award in my first year of working as a government contractor for my critical role in helping a government organization achieve a vital certification.  While I started as the lowest-ranked person on the team that I was working with, by the end of the project I was being specifically requested by the client as the only person they wanted to work with.  I was also the one person chosen on my team to travel with the client to extend the certification to their regional teams.  Again, this was a major achievement.

What I will say is my greatest professional achievement, however, though it is not as big in the traditional sense as the ones mentioned above, is when I have heard from parents of students I have taught or tutored, or from students themselves, about the impact I have made in their lives.  I have never felt happier or prouder than when a parent told me that their child used to be very good in one subject and perform poorly in another but after learning from me on the subject they were performing worse in, that trend had completely reversed.  I have never felt prouder than when a student I helped prepare for the GRE told me after the test that he almost got a perfect score, and did even better than I did.  There are many other instances of this, and this is what really inspired me to want to become a teacher full time.

How do you manage a balance between your Indian and American Cultures? 

Unlike some who are of Indian origin but grew up entirely in America, I was born in India and actually lived there for 4-5 years in the first 8 years of my life.  Because of this, I struggled with the balance a bit more than others may have though I have also benefitted from a closer connection to that part of my heritage.  Also, as a lover of history, I have always believed in the importance of understanding the past as a necessary element of planning for the future.

The main ways I have kept in touch with my Indian culture is through interaction with my family members that still live there, the value system that I was given by my parents, and through movies, music and dance.  Hindi is actually my first language and, though I am much better at English, speaking and understanding Hindi comes easier to me because of that and it has allowed me to keep in touch with my grandparents better.  I also love Hindi music and movies and it is a great way to not only keep in touch with the language but also movies tell a lot about the beliefs of Indians and changes that happen in culture, especially the more independent films that are increasingly being made.

I have also joined Indian organizations when I have had the chance, in high school, college and since moving back to Lexington.  I have worked with the Indian American Forum for Political Education to get more young Indian Americans interested and involved in political affairs.  I have also recently started working with the Indian Americans of Lexington on their education committee, as I want to be involved in that space and I see the need for an Indian voice so that our culture and history is still being taught to the generations that don’t have the benefit of growing up or going to school in India.

What were the best things your parents did for you as you were growing up? 

I did not follow a straight career path and took a lot of detours before finally deciding on what I want to do with my life.  The best thing my parents did for me, which I am sure was hard for them, was support me along this journey instead of pushing me to do things more traditionally.  I am sure I could have been successful the other way, but I wouldn’t have been happy.

 I was very lucky that not only did my parents not push me in a particular direction, they also made a very real effort to help me down the many meandering paths I took.  They connected me with people they knew and it is because of this support that I was able to have some of the amazing experiences I had.  Instead of pulling me back to where it is safer, they helped me move forward towards an amazing future.

 What is the toughest interview question you have been asked?

 The toughest question for me to answer has always been ones looking to the future, such as “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”  I was directionless for so long, taking each new experience as it came as a chance to try something new and see if this what I was searching for, that this was an impossible question for me to answer sometimes.

 Even now that I have decided to become a teacher, I see it is as another step along the journey and I will always be open to new experiences.  I see education as a field with a lot of potential for innovation and growth and hope to be part of the transformation.  I am still not sure whether this will be as a teacher or in some other related role, but I can say with certainty my future is in the education and learning space.

 What do you do in your spare time outside of work?

 Beyond the basics of watching movies and TV and reading, I love going to museums, exploring new places, and traveling.  There is so much to see and experience in the world, and I want to get a chance to see it.  I love learning about new things and places and the medium can be through word or screen, but ideally I like to experience it in person.  In high school and college I studied Latin as well as Roman history and archaeology and, while I really enjoyed the classes, what I am most looking forward to is visiting Italy this summer and seeing some of the things I learned about first hand.

 I also love doing all kinds of puzzles: crosswords, sudoku, kakeru, jigsaw, etc.  My mind is always running and I love seeing how things fit together and making them work.  This is also a large part of why I love history.

 What is currently in your ipod/smartphone– music?

 I am a firm believer in the idea that “variety is the spice of life” and I love new things so my favorite genre of music is Alternative.  People are doing so many creative things with music styles and words and that is what I enjoy most.  Some of my favorite bands are Jimmy Eat World, Linkin Park, Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, OneRepublic, etc.

 I also enjoy listening to Hindi music, especially that of A.R. Rahman.  I love his style of music, how he experiments with different sounds and how they can blend together.

 Can you finish this sentence - I believe?

 I believe that education is the driving force for the future and the foundation of everything, the one thing that can transform societies and change the world. 

 Because of this, I find it very sad and frustrating that we don’t attach more importance to it and focus on other things instead.  I also believe that education, like everything else, needs to adapt and change with the times.  There is so much potential for innovation that it cannot afford to be stagnant.  There are so many more draws on the attention of people now and so many new ways that they can access information, that education and teaching has to evolve to take advantage of these instead of doing the same things and expecting them to still work.

 What is your Favorite App?

 I love learning and trivia apps the most and am currently addicted to Trivia Crack but also have ones for Geography and Human Anatomy.

 What advice would you give young people growing up as Indian Americans in the US? 

 Take advantage of the opportunities you have around you, don’t limit yourself and take the time to explore different things, and don’t lose touch with your heritage, take the good things forward with you.

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