kamusta ~

my name is akira park. i am a currently fourth year undergraduate at washington state university (go cougs!) majoring in secondary english education. i do many other things which you can find below :)

i am...

♡ an undergraduate researcher w/ the washington state university mcnair scholars program. i am mentored under dr. ashley s. boyd
♡ the president of the wsu mcnair scholars student club
♡ a wife and a mom to a cat and dog 𐂯

get started here ☆

❀ research projects ❀

Am I qualified?: Studying the inclusion of Asian-American literature in English classrooms
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Mentor: Ashley S. Boyd, Ph. D.
August 2022 - Present

Through collecting and analyzing survey data from teachers in the Pacific Northwest, this research study examines the beliefs and practices that educators employ in secondary education classrooms regarding their preparation and approach to teaching Asian American literature. The literature on English educators thus far illustrates they share common perspectives on teaching the canon, demonstrate an absence of awareness of the relevance and importance of updating reading lists, and don’t feel prepared to assess cultural authenticity in literature. Informed by Django Paris’s (2012) culturally sustaining pedagogy—teaching methods that support the concept of cultural pluralism—the researcher will analyze responses quantitively to generate findings related to the use of texts. Additionally, the researcher will examine open-ended responses qualitatively to produce thematic findings related to participants’ knowledge, perceptions, and inclusion of Asian-American literature. The research, therefore, aims to improve the inclusion of Asian American narratives and experiences of students in the classroom.

(Un)Valued culture: Exploring the representation of Asian-American perspectives in bookshelves
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Mentor: Ashley S. Boyd, Ph. D.
July 2023 - Present

This research will explore Asian-American books that adolescents are exposed to in various spaces including local libraries, national bookstores, and online sites in terms of the different perspectives the reflect. The researcher will compile data of yearly published multicultural young adult literature, thematically code it for Asian-American representation and other content aspects, and analyze why certain perspectives and cultures are valued and represented over the others.

Building as we walk: Disrupting white hegemony in teacher education
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Research Leader: Ángel Bonilla, Teaching Assistant at WSU Cultural Studies and Social Thought in Education
Team: Shiari McNeil, Jesenia Larios, Chloe Ugalino , and Jose Altamirano
May 2023 - Present

“Kinning asks us to re/member and attend to our relationships through spatial and temporal contexts…we ask, where do we go from here?”As a team consisting of one cisgender Chicano teacher educator; two teachers of Black and indigenous Hawaiian identities; and three pre-service teacher candidates of Latine and Filipina identities; we wish to define what a Lack of Sociopolitical Awareness (LOSA) looks, sounds, and feels like in teacher education by sharing testimonios of our experiences during teacher preparation and/or time in the field as professionals.This project will utilize critical Participatory Action Research (PAR) to legitimize lived experience via counternarratives in teacher education at a land grant public research institution located in the Inland Pacific Northwest. The testimonio in critical PAR (Lenette, 2022) allows us to tend to our spatial and temporal relationships by representing our experiences that do not speak for or represent a specific community “...but rather performs an act of identity-formation which is simultaneously personal and collective” (Yudice, 1991; De Saxe, 2022, p.213). Furthermore, Critical Race Theory allows us to center our lived experiences as racialized people in education to deconstruct a comforting master narrative that teacher education is apolitical and an inherently safe space for teacher educators and teacher candidates of color.Furthermore, we aim to promote social justice and deny “established colonial ideas about knowledge production and research” (Lenette, 2022) by centering the voices of folks who come from Black, Indigenous, Filipina, and Latine backgrounds. Most of us on this team are the children of migrants and working-class families, with first-generation student statuses. To kin, thus, we frame this project as a call to improve the experiences of TCoC’s in teacher-ed (but really, all pre-service teachers) by building supportive communities for the future, suggesting changes and actions that teacher candidates and teacher educators can take to improve experiences.ReferencesDe Saxe, J. G. (2022). Unsettling the “White University”-Undermining Color-blindness through Critical Race Theory and Testimonio. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 19(3), 196-223.Lenette, C. (2022). Participatory action research: Ethics and decolonization. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197512456.001.0001Yúdice, G. (1991). Testimonio and postmodernism. Latin American Perspectives, 18(3), 15-31.

ღ graduate school portfolio ღ

if you have come to assist with my graduate school application, i wish to express my gratitude for your willingness to dedicate your time and effort as a recommender ☺

~ akira's application materials ~

♡ curriculum vitae | fall 2023
♡ unofficial transcripts
♡ statement of purpose
♡ writing samples
♡ research projects

~ graduate school list ~

♡ Washington State University | College of Education - Cultural Studies & Social Thought in Education (PhD)
➳ deadline: tbd
♡ Washington State University | Department of English - Literary Studies (MA)
➳ deadline: tbd
♡ New York University | Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, & Human Development - Educational Leadership & Policy Studies (PhD)
➳ deadline: tbd
♡ University of Texas - Austin | College of Education - Higher Education Leadership & Policy (PhD)
➳ deadline: tbd

❀ works ❀

~ 2024 Washington State University SURCA ~
Crimson Awards (First Place) - Humanities

~ 2024 Online Summit on the Research and Teaching of Young Adult Literature~
Click the image or the button to check out the slides!

~ 2023 National Council of Teachers of English - The Future is Now~
Click the image or the button to check out the slides!