Having gone through the West Windsor-Plainsboro school district from the time she moved to Plainsboro in second grade, Shaundrika Stevenson knows first-hand that the parents here certainly stay involved in their children’s studies.##M:[more]##
And for Stevenson, parental support makes her job as the district’s newest speech language pathologist a little easier. Stevenson, a 2001 graduate of High School South, will be stationed at Community Middle School this year, where she will be working with students, either by meeting with them for one-on-one sessions out of the classroom, or going into the classroom and offering her support.
Stevenson’s connection to the district began when she moved to Plainsboro when she was in second grade, after having traveled with her mother, who was serving in the military. Her mother currently works for Princeton Borough. Stevenson first attended Upper Elementary School (now Millstone River) and then made her way through Community Middle, to High School North for her first year, until her class was moved to South (hers was the last graduating class not to be split between the two high schools) her sophomore year. While in the WW-P district as a student, Stevenson was the co-captain of her debate team in high school and ran track.
“Definitely everyone in the school district was very supportive, and you could always go to them,” she said. “They pushed you to go further and to learn not just in the classroom, but outside as well. That was something I saw in the district, which was really good.”
And it was good for the district, too, where the atmosphere drew her back “because they gave me that good foundation to begin with.”
After graduating from South, Stevenson attended Pace University in New York City. Knowing she wanted to work with children and inspired by her cousin who is deaf, Stevenson headed to Pace with the original intent of majoring in deaf studies, a new program at the college that was supposed to begin when she got there. The program ended up falling through, and she switched to speech therapy. She went on to get her master’s in the same field from the College of St. Rose in Albany.
Stevenson says she gained experience in working in a variety of settings, helping both adults and children. As a speech language pathologist, she works with people who have difficulties in processing language, whether it is an articulation disorder, stuttering, or foreign accent reduction, “anything that has to do with language — spoken, written, and understanding comprehension,” she explains.
Studying to become a speech pathologist certainly is not easy. “When you go through the program, you really have to know exactly what you want to do,” Stevenson explains. “When you get through, it’s so rewarding.”
Given the extremely diverse communities in West Windsor and Plainsboro, one would think that the variety of ethnic cultures making up the population would create a particular need for Stevenson’s work in the district, but Stevenson says that her work is not only focused on helping those with stuttering or who speak foreign languages.
“It’s needed for anyone,” she said. “Everyone processes language differently. It’s not even a cultural thing. It’s something you do take into account when you’re doing it. But it’s students who are struggling. It’s great for them because they need that support so they can stay with the rest of the children in their grade.”
After finishing up her studies, Stevenson moved to East Windsor, where she currently lives. Before being hired in the WW-P district, Stevenson worked with adults at a rehabilitation center in Monroe.
She says her job is never boring. “Someone can come in with a diagnosis and be completely different” from another person with the same diagnosis, she says. “No day at your job will be the same.”
At WW-P, Stevenson says one of her goals with all of her students is to have them just reach their maximum potential with her. “I want them to be pushing and pushing themselves, not just through school, but life outside of school as well,” she says.
The easiest part, she says, is having a child’s family supportive of his or her progress. “You’re not just saying you need to do this, and do that,” she says. “They understand why you want to work there. It’s very rewarding when families come in and they say they want to be a part of it.”
She points to an example in the post-prom event when she was in high school. “All the families came out,” she said. “We’re lucky we do have parents who do take the effort, even if they’re working.”
And that’s good for her students. “Part of it is having that great support system, not just in the classroom, which in West Windsor-Plainsboro is great, but having it at home,” Stevenson says.
As Stevenson prepares for the opening of the school year, she is excited to help instill the district’ philosophies in her students, like she had experienced once herself. “That way, I can inspire some future students to want to work in the district as well,” she says.
