Noyce Scholar Profile
Ibrahim Mesanovic
Undergraduate major or graduate field of study: Master of Arts in Teaching Program
Subject area(s) and grade level teaching focus: Chemistry, grades 9-12
Category of scholarship/fellowship:
Fifth year or post-baccalaureate Noyce scholar
Name of Noyce institution:
Pacific University
Current academic or teaching status:
8 years teaching experience
School and school district:
Reynolds School District
Background:
My academic background is in Science, for which I received a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Technology Engineering. I was a chemistry teacher for seven years in my country, Bosnia. I taught high school students, 9-12 grade level. In 1992, when I was a refugee in Germany, I taught Bosnian refugee students. I taught them science, math and the Bosnian language. In the U.S., I worked in high technology companies for five years. Since 2003 and until now, I have been working for the Reynolds School District as an Educational Assistant. At Reynolds High School, I worked with math, science and ELL teachers. In the last three years, I worked in Glenfair Elementary as a EA Title I. Mostly I supported the teachers in the math sections.
Why do you want to teach:
Because of my previous teaching experiences and my experience as an Educational Assistant, I like teaching, and I like to work with students.
Describe a memorable teaching experience:
My most memorable teaching experience is of all pleasurable and wonderful moments that I will always remember when I was in Germany in 1992. At that time, I organized the school for students who were refugees from Bosnia. I worked in the school in the year 1992-1993. I had 30 students in my classroom in the grade levels of 1-12. I didn’t have experience working with students in a combination of classes, but I mastered it very well. As a result, my student were very successful in math and science in the regular German school. I was very happy, and the parents of my students were very satisfied with the students’ progress and my teaching ability.
What does the Noyce program mean to you:
The Robert Noyce Scholarship STEM Program is a great achievement. It’s a great deal of tasks in the field of prosperity, effectiveness and trustworthiness. I’m really very thankful and happy that I qualified in the Pacific Robert Noyce Scholarship Program. It’s really financially manageable and inspiring to my studies–I’m now in the STEM MAT Program. It’s high value, and I work with well motivated science and math professionals. Furthermore, it will be helpful for me to find a job teaching students in my field, chemistry.
