Ella is our volunteer that has been with us since mid-semester last fall! She is a freshman at UNCC and majoring in Bachelors of Science in Biology and minoring in Chemistry, but also thinking about adding a Healthcare Management major. Her personal goal is to get accepted into a medical school as she has always wanted to be a doctor. Ella has also always wanted to volunteer at an academy where she could teach. She always knew she liked helping people because, during her study sessions at school, she was usually the one helping everyone with the material. “Besides that, I also resonated with your mission, which is to empower, enrich and educate refugee, immigrant, and underprivileged students because I am myself an immigrant and my family moved to the US when I was 15. I want to help the children because I have experienced the troubles of moving to a completely new country and being faced with a language barrier.”  

 

Ella’s favorite part of volunteering at the Nest Academy is seeing children getting more enthusiastic about school material when they understand how to do a math equation or when they answer their history question correctly. “They get so excited which makes me happy because that means I did a good job of explaining the material. Another part that I also enjoy is that all kids are so kind and welcoming to me. They are always so happy to see me whenever I come. It has been an amazing experience!” 

“I also resonated with your mission, which is to empower, enrich and educate refugee, immigrant, and underprivileged students because I am myself an immigrant and my family moved to the US when I was 15. I want to help the children because I have experienced the troubles of moving to a completely new country and being faced with a language barrier.”  

Besides The Nest, Ella volunteers with the Literacy Together organization based in Asheville. She is an online ESL teacher. She provides support for immigrant adults by giving them English lessons in order for them to be able to obtain a basic entry-level job to support their families. “Our organization provides a whole new world of opportunities for immigrants to improve their employment prospects, help their children in school, and pass the US Naturalization exam completely for free.” With healthcare, she has provided cancer patients with support by teaching them how to use technology and the internet to put them in control of their healthcare journey.

We are so thankful for a volunteer like Ella dedicating her time to us! A fun fact about Ella is that she enjoys dancing. She started dancing during middle school and enjoys music like “Kpop.” She also knows 4 languages: Russian, English, Kazakh and Korean! Thank you Ella for all you do! If you’d like to participate in making a difference in students’ lives, contact us today about volunteer opportunities!