SOLFUL SHAPES MEGAN'S CAREER PATH
The Chico State student interned with SOLFul & walked away with a whole new perspective of God's character and His plans for her in the Kingdom
As an Anthropology major, Megan needed to complete an internship. Years ago Megan had visited Garnet Initiative Director, Matt Anderson, who is a longtime family friend. She remembered enjoying the culture of the neighborhood and the way they embraced the Anderson's. Megan applied for the SOLFul Summer Internship, and moved into the Garnet neighborhood.
SOLFul began after budget cuts canceled summer school in Fullerton. In response, Solidarity & local churches responded by creating a summer school program in four schools & neighborhoods in the city.
Knowing that Megan was an anthropology major, the elementary site director, Leilani, asked Megan to teach a world culture and geography workshop. Introducing children to her passion filled Megan with enthusiasm. Creating lesson plans, managing a class, and academically developing students terrified her. This presented an opportunity for Megan to depend on God, because she had never taught before.
The first day of SOLFUL, Megan prayed, “Lord, this is in your hands, I have no clue how to teach. Help me.” With each passing day God stirred something, an unknown passion being revealed. The elementary students' excitement to learn inspired Megan.
Simultaneous to this excitement, Megan encountered unexpected challenges also causing her to run to God. Matthew, a first grader, had challenging behavioral issues. New to teaching, Megan did not know how to handle him when acting out. She felt like she was failing Matthew and the other students. She wanted to just “fix” him, but couldn't. Additionally, a few weeks into her internship a close friend suffered a tragic loss. There was nothing that Megan could do and she grew weary and angry with God.
Unable to fix Matthew or her friend’s life, Megan turned desperately to God. The Lord revealed His loving patience with Megan in the midst of all her anger. With things failing around her, God remained faithful and patient to Megan. Things did not get better instantly, but Megan understood God’s character more deeply. In this journey Megan realized God was developing a compassion within her, as well as uncovering an unknown love for teaching.
This SOLFul experience awakened Megan. Returning to Chico State, Megan changed her career path to teaching, seeing it as a context to combine her love for culture and compassion for others.
This past year, Megan was a long-term special education substitute in Washoe County School District in Reno, Nevada. God translated her internship experience at Solidarity in this new job. She currently works in a Title 1 school in a low-income neighborhood in the city.
Reflecting back at her SOLFul internship, Megan realized God developed compassion for her current students through students like Matthew. SOLFul wasn't just a school requirement fulfilled, but a vehicle God used to transform Megan's life.