Recent graduate Zoë Wilson, Colorado Epsilon, will spend this upcoming year teaching abroad in Thailand. As she was considering ways to become a better educator, the opportunity to teach in Thailand kept reappearing in her research. With this overseas prospect, Zoë hopes to learn what education looks like on an international level because it is important to see how it compares to what we do in the United States.

So how did Zoë get to where she is today? “I owe it all to Pi Phi,” she says.

Zoë joined Pi Beta Phi as a member of Colorado Gamma at Colorado State University, where she was active in the Champions are Readers (C.A.R.) program in a Fort Collins, Colorado, third-grade classroom. As Zoë spent more time in the classroom, it became evident to her that she wanted to choose a career in education. So she did research into programs that could support her desire to be a teacher.

Zoë found the right program for her and made the decision to transfer to the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS), where she affiliated to become a member of Colorado Epsilon. One of the few programs in the entire world of its kind, the Bachelor of Innovation in Inclusive Early Childhood Education focused on innovating curriculum development, supporting individual learning and including learning with technology.

In classes, Zoë found herself interacting with engineers, business men and women and educators. It was a very interesting way to go about learning to be collaborative with different-minded individuals versus only those individuals in her field. “The program prepared me to work with others and see things from many perspectives; not just one viewpoint,” shares Zoë.

Zoë’s goal is to work with children with disabilities, so the program helped her discover new ways of bringing these students into the mainstream classroom versus keeping them in separate classes. She is looking to bring intentionality to this integration. She is also looking into how to make all the students better learners and leaders.