Teaching
As a kid I had a lot of teachers who would yell & scream & scold students for all sorts of reasons. I had a wonderful second grade teacher Mrs.Carvalho. She really validated my curiosity in a way other teachers had not. The intermediate school I went to for one year (3rd) was not well funded & my hometown has quite a history of corruption. I just found that school to be brutal, it felt like the streets of a city with a high crime rate (at least for a sheltered, sensitive only child like myself). I switched to the only private school nearby - it happened to be a catholic school. I made a lot of long time friends there but I'll be honest although it was a much more nurturing & small environment - it had it's quirks or strange feelings being such a sheltered environment. I suppose I just mean the subculture among the students was quite different - perhaps more nerdy (which I enjoyed but maybe wasn't used to fully yet). In 9th grade I had for the first time mostly male teachers - I loved pretty much all of them. I don't know why but it was easier to connect with them & maybe I associated them less with the emotional trauma of many of my elementary school teachers.
So I really never thought I would end up working anywhere near a school. But as time as gone on - I've noticed patterns. I love showing people new discoveries I've made, new learning tools, new ways to enrich your brain - your life. I find it natural to want to share knowledge - I enjoy reflection & self-development. I made my own set of mistakes growing up - I want to help the younger generation not fall into the same traps in life, to be aware more early of just how much potential they have, how many resources they have at their fingertips. Inspiring & supporting students envigorates me - it drives me to improve myself & improve the community. I enjoy giving presentations, answering questions, & want to learn more about conducting academic research.
I'm particularly interested in language pedagogy, language acquisition psychology, implications of linguistic imperialism, poetry, & the effects on language learners learning their L3 from their L2 (in comparison to traditionally learning their L3 from their L1), Task Based Output & interaction, and how technology can make good teaching methods more accessible. I use Anki as my main langauge learning tool in addition to a few other apps like Ling. I like to do extensive reading, but especially write down sentences in my notebook and listen to audio (usually something from the Easy Languages Youtube Channel) to practice as well. More to come on this page soon. Thanks!
Nonprofits
I'm drawn to mission-driven work. Nonprofits operate in the space where institutional resources meet genuine community need, and I find that combination compelling. I'm interested in organizations that focus on funding public education(national & international), international aid, international humanitarian issues, and cross-cultural understanding - these are all areas I am interested in learning more about or potentially doing a masters degree in a related field. Maybe oneday I'll try to make my own non-profit / co-op style org that offers low cost/free courses in digital fabrication & serves as a community center & library...?
I'd like to understand the operational & funding side of nonprofit work better as well as the programmatic side. Building something sustainable that actually serves people well is harder than it looks, and I want to learn how it's done.
Public Administration
I'm interested in how governments and public institutions function at the operational level — how services get delivered, how decisions get made, & how policy becomes practice. Public administration sits at that intersection, & I think I feel somewhat of a pull towards ensuring tax dollars are spent wisely & to serve as a public servant (whether for the United States or for Germany). Out of all the political ideologies the one I disagree likely most with is anarchy - our state is a precious thing that holds our society together, protects us, mitigates national & local security threats. A central state is a good thing despite its flaws. I feel a sort of natural feeling of motivation that comes with my dedication to this idea of Democracy, checks & balances, human rights - all connected somehow to some form of government to serve the people. If there are not those willing to operate in the government & go above & beyond what their oath swears them to in order to deliver to the tax payer of that country. I have a lot to learn about public administration but it would be fascinating to learn more about it potentially in an internship type role.
I'm especially curious about how technology and data are (or aren't) being used in public institutions to improve outcomes, and what it would take to change that.
Public Policy
Policy interests me because it's the mechanism through which ideas become structural change — or don't. I care about education policy most, but I'm also interested in immigration policy, public transportation law, abortion rights, the separation of church and state, the policy dimensions of public health & the reversal of Louisiana v. Callais, the reversal of Trump v. United States, the reversal of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, as well as international development.
I want to understand how policy is actually written & implemented, not just debated. There are many strange legal decisions that have been made in the last decade & without a doubt they will be studied for decades. This presents an opportunity to test & see how rigid the constitution is or is not - what we can do to change our trajectory. What does this mean in terms of a rules based order in our three branches of government? What becomes politically popular yet also feasible in this chaotic political environment. Public policy is the intersection of politics, practical solutions, & unforseen consequences that makes it fascinating & complex. The gap between what a law says & what it produces is often enormous, & I find that gap worth studying. This is how we evolve ourselves as a society - through legislation - it would be thrilling to be part of this process to produce quality, thought-out, & effective legislation with inclusivity & public consensus responsibly in the minds of our representatives.
Public Health
Public health sits at the intersection of science, policy, and community — a combination I find genuinely interesting. I'm drawn to the epidemiological side (how health outcomes distribute across populations and why) as well as the communication and behavioral dimensions: how do you get accurate health information to people who need it, in a form they can use?
Language and health literacy are connected in ways that matter to me personally. People who don't speak the dominant language of a health system face real and sometimes serious disadvantages. That's a problem I'd like to contribute to solving.
International Relations & Diplomacy
I've lived abroad, participated in government exchange programs (Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange, Fulbright), and spent a lot of time thinking about how countries and cultures understand and misunderstand each other. That lived experience has made me genuinely curious about diplomacy as a practice — not just the high-profile negotiations, but the day-to-day work of building relationships across borders.
I'm particularly interested in cultural and educational diplomacy: language programs, exchange initiatives, and the quiet, long-term work of building mutual understanding between countries.
Linguistic Research
My interest in linguistics grew out of language learning but has developed into something more serious. I'm curious about phonology (especially tonal systems), language acquisition, language contact and creolization, and the documentation of endangered languages. I find the question of how and why languages change over time — and what they reveal about their speakers — endlessly interesting.
I'm not sure whether I'd pursue formal academic research, but I'd like to be closer to that world than I currently am. Linguistic fieldwork, corpus work, and applied linguistics for language teaching are all areas I want to explore.
Computer Science
I came to computer science late and largely through building this website. Working with HTML, CSS, TypeScript, and a PostgreSQL-backed server has given me a much more grounded sense of how software actually works — and made me curious about going deeper. I'm interested in algorithms, data structures, and the theoretical foundations of computing, even though my current work is more applied.
I'd like to become genuinely competent as a software developer — not just functional, but technically sound. That means understanding what's happening underneath the abstractions I currently rely on.
Computer Engineering
The hardware side of computing — how processors work, how memory is managed, how software interfaces with physical systems — is something I know less about than I'd like. I'm interested in embedded systems and the ways computers are built into devices, environments, and infrastructure.
This is more of an exploratory interest than a career direction at this point, but I believe understanding the physical substrate of computing would make me a better thinker about software and systems.