Melissa Goto\u2019s family always seemed to know what her future would hold.<\/p>\n
Two of her grandparents were educators, then it skipped a generation in her parents. Yet, both she and her family knew who the next educator would be.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing up, my family always said I\u2019d be a teacher,\u201d Goto said. \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to do it, and I haven\u2019t really strayed from that since.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goto admits she was a bit on the \u201cbossy side\u201d growing up. Her parents took it as a sign of a future leader, and encouraged that leadership. When she received a teacher play kit in second grade, Goto would play school with her siblings, and she was always the teacher. As she continued to grow, her parents encouraged her communication skills, enthusiasm and \u201ctake-charge\u201d attitude.<\/p>\n
And it paid off. She is graduating in May with a degree in elementary education, following a successful student teaching experience this year in Wake County Public Schools.<\/p>\n
Goto feels ready to lead and pursue her goals to continue teaching in Wake County, thanks in part to the Moshakos Family Teacher Education Scholarship. With some of the financial burden of college lifted thanks to the scholarship, she had the opportunity to cultivate her interest in leadership.<\/p>\n
She served as president of the College of Education\u2019s<\/a> Education Council, president of the NC State Swim Club, as a College of Education student ambassador, and as a Chancellor’s Aide, among other roles.<\/p>\n \u201cI’ve learned how to communicate on both small and large scales. I’ve worked firsthand with faculty in higher education and student services, and now I have a career interest in higher education,\u201d Goto said.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, receiving the Moshakos Family Scholarship made Goto feel valued and supported by the university.<\/p>\n \u201cIt says someone is proud of what you\u2019re doing \u2013 that what you\u2019re doing is worthy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Goto admits she grew up a Tar Heel fan and always thought about attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As she investigated both universities during her senior year of high school, Goto discovered NC State was a better fit.<\/p>\n \u201cI was really impressed by NC State\u2019s College of Education,\u201d Goto said.<\/p>\n What attracted her most was the opportunity to begin getting hands-on experience during her sophomore year, she said. In NC State\u2019s elementary education program, field placements begin at that time, which is earlier than many universities, she said.<\/p>\n As Goto learned more about NC State, the university\u2019s support for its students and the wide range of enrichment opportunities outside the classroom also attracted her.<\/p>\n Her plans to go into education began with a desire to make a difference in other people\u2019s lives, she said. Now that she\u2019s had some firsthand experience, it\u2019s also about being able to see the impact she can make on students\u2019 lives both academically and outside the classroom.<\/p>\n \u201cAt NC State, I\u2019ve had so many different internships,\u201d Goto said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve found the school that I want to teach at next year.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s already putting that practical experience to work, filling in as a long-term substitute for the rest of the school year for a teacher who had to leave her position.<\/p>\n After working for a few years, Goto\u2019s goal is to attend graduate school and work toward a degree that will allow her to take on a leadership role in education, possibly in higher education.<\/p>\n Her time at NC State has already instilled many of the skills she\u2019ll need in the classroom and in her future plans.<\/p>\n \u201cThe scholarship really does make a difference,\u201d she said. \u201cI know that not every donor always gets to see the benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n She said she\u2019s been fortunate to meet the Moshakos family on several occasions.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like it\u2019s rewarding for them to see, as a donor, what their money is going to,\u201d Goto said. \u201cAnd, also to know that it\u2019ll affect us forever.\u201d<\/p>\n This post was originally published<\/a> in Giving News.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false,"raw":"Melissa Goto\u2019s family always seemed to know what her future would hold.\r\n\r\nTwo of her grandparents were educators, then it skipped a generation in her parents. Yet, both she and her family knew who the next educator would be.\r\n\r\n\u201cGrowing up, my family always said I\u2019d be a teacher,\u201d Goto said. \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to do it, and I haven\u2019t really strayed from that since.\u201d\r\n\r\nGoto admits she was a bit on the \u201cbossy side\u201d growing up. Her parents took it as a sign of a future leader, and encouraged that leadership. When she received a teacher play kit in second grade, Goto would play school with her siblings, and she was always the teacher. As she continued to grow, her parents encouraged her communication skills, enthusiasm and \u201ctake-charge\u201d attitude.\r\n\r\nAnd it paid off. She is graduating in May with a degree in elementary education, following a successful student teaching experience this year in Wake County Public Schools.\r\n\r\nGoto feels ready to lead and pursue her goals to continue teaching in Wake County, thanks in part to the Moshakos Family Teacher Education Scholarship. With some of the financial burden of college lifted thanks to the scholarship, she had the opportunity to cultivate her interest in leadership.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nShe served as president of the College of Education\u2019s<\/a> Education Council, president of the NC State Swim Club, as a College of Education student ambassador, and as a Chancellor's Aide, among other roles.\r\n\r\n\u201cI've learned how to communicate on both small and large scales. I've worked firsthand with faculty in higher education and student services, and now I have a career interest in higher education,\u201d Goto said.\r\n\r\nWhat\u2019s more, receiving the Moshakos Family Scholarship made Goto feel valued and supported by the university.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt says someone is proud of what you\u2019re doing \u2013 that what you\u2019re doing is worthy,\u201d she said.\r\n\r\nGoto admits she grew up a Tar Heel fan and always thought about attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As she investigated both universities during her senior year of high school, Goto discovered NC State was a better fit.\r\n\r\n\u201cI was really impressed by NC State\u2019s College of Education,\u201d Goto said.\r\n\r\nWhat attracted her most was the opportunity to begin getting hands-on experience during her sophomore year, she said. In NC State\u2019s elementary education program, field placements begin at that time, which is earlier than many universities, she said.\r\n\r\nAs Goto learned more about NC State, the university\u2019s support for its students and the wide range of enrichment opportunities outside the classroom also attracted her.\r\n\r\nHer plans to go into education began with a desire to make a difference in other people\u2019s lives, she said. Now that she\u2019s had some firsthand experience, it\u2019s also about being able to see the impact she can make on students\u2019 lives both academically and outside the classroom.\r\n\r\n\u201cAt NC State, I\u2019ve had so many different internships,\u201d Goto said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve found the school that I want to teach at next year.\u201d\r\n\r\nShe\u2019s already putting that practical experience to work, filling in as a long-term substitute for the rest of the school year for a teacher who had to leave her position.\r\n\r\nAfter working for a few years, Goto\u2019s goal is to attend graduate school and work toward a degree that will allow her to take on a leadership role in education, possibly in higher education.\r\n\r\nHer time at NC State has already instilled many of the skills she\u2019ll need in the classroom and in her future plans.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe scholarship really does make a difference,\u201d she said. \u201cI know that not every donor always gets to see the benefits.\u201d\r\n\r\nShe said she\u2019s been fortunate to meet the Moshakos family on several occasions.\r\n\r\n\u201cI feel like it\u2019s rewarding for them to see, as a donor, what their money is going to,\u201d Goto said. \u201cAnd, also to know that it\u2019ll affect us forever.\u201d"},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With the support of the Moshakos Family Teacher Education Scholarship, Melissa Goto is graduating with a degree in elementary education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":243,"featured_media":12271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"ncstate_wire","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[185,205,203],"tags":[1481,364,238,221,310,292,259],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"class_list":["post-12270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-our-people","category-research-and-impact","tag-_from-newswire-collection-69","tag-campaign-for-nc-state","tag-elementary-education","tag-giving","tag-in-the-news","tag-teacher-education","tag-teacher-education-and-learning-sciences"],"displayCategory":null,"acf":{"ncst_posts_meta_modified_date":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12270"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49088,"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12270\/revisions\/49088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12270"},{"taxonomy":"_ncst_magazine_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ced.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_ncst_magazine_issue?post=12270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}