#BCGrad2021 Celebrates Resilience and Hope: Getting a Jumpstart on Her Career
May 17, 2021
Childhood education graduate Briana Wallace
As a kid, Brianna Wallace attended her mother's Brooklyn College courses with her, often pretending to take notes in the back of the class while her mother pursued her degree.
This time around, she meant business.
The early childhood education major worked with the Jumpstart program, a national education organization that recruits and trains college students to work with preschool students on reading, writing, and social-emotional skills.
"Seeing their smiling faces every day made teaching them much more worth it," she says, noting what a challenge it was to work and study at the same time.
A music minor, Wallace also was a member of the Glee Club and the Symphonic Choir and performed with Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music members recording virtual choirs during the pandemic. "I was heavily involved in the music program in high school," she says. "It was great to continue my love for music on the college level."
She says her fondest memories are in the classrooms—one in particular that emphasized learning from her classmates—and the library, "that one place where I can take a second and just breathe," she says.
Wallace earned the Dean Jefferson Education Award during her freshman year and plans to teach in the public education system while pursuing graduate studies in education.
"Brooklyn College has helped me toward my career goals by providing me with the necessary resources to succeed," she says.
