Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres learns all she can learn from the life stories and lessons of Khamphet Pease. While other teenagers might have been sneaking around to go to late night scary movies, Khamphet was applying for scholarships and submitting college applications. As a refugee from Laos, Khamphet shares the difficulty she experienced navigating a home culture that did not encourage education or career ambitions for women. Despite that, she laughs over her stubbornness that she sees as an integral part of what has motivated her to chase her dreams, spend over 20 years as a STEM teacher, and what earned her the presidential award for excellence in mathematics and science teaching. Due to gendered norms and expectations, she almost lost out on the future she truly wanted. Since then, she has made it her mission to champion a learning environment where young girls feel they belong and can thrive in STEM fields. Khamphet takes Ana on a journey through all the lessons she learned along the way of managing work/life balance, creating a classroom culture of trust, and the importance of finding a mentor during the hardest teaching years of your life. Once back in the classroom, Eric Cross and Ana check in on Eric’s first two weeks of back-to-school and discuss practical ways to take care of yourself first so you can then take care of your students.

Show notes:

• Connect with Khamphet Pease on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/phet-pease
• Connect with Khamphet Pease on X @PhetPease
• Watch: California Teachers Association commercial (short version)
• Watch: Steve Hartman’s On the Road series
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years https://amplify.com/beyond-my-years
• Follow us on Instagram @amplify.education
• Connect with Eric Cross: https://www.ericcross.org/
• Connect with Ana Torres: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anayansi-ana-torres-m-ed-26a10654/

Quotes:
“This next school year, she told me I'm up at 60 percent girls in my intro to coding classe,. and that's huge! I want to make sure that girls have access and they feel wanted and included and they can see themselves in these fields.” —Khamphet Pease

“I remember one class that I had [with only] one female student, and she was just looking around and I could see in her eyes that she just felt like this is not a place for her. She dropped out of that class and after that I was like, no, this is unacceptable.” —Khamphet Pease

“We just need more women. More of their voices. They need more seats at the table because if we all hear [only] male voices, then 50 percent of the population isn't going to have their problem solved as easily or as efficiently.” —Khamphet Pease