{"id":931,"date":"2025-04-02T17:03:48","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T21:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/openlab-for-students\/?p=931"},"modified":"2025-04-02T17:04:01","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T21:04:01","slug":"nonlinear-journey-to-teaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/openlab-for-students\/2025\/04\/02\/nonlinear-journey-to-teaching\/","title":{"rendered":"Nonlinear journey to teaching"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In this episode, Iqra Sheik, from the OpenLab team, interviews Lucas Wissell, a secondary education major at BMCC. Lucas shares about his nonlinear journey toward his passion, and how he ended up choosing a career in education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/openlab-for-students\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2586\/2025\/04\/Lucas.recording-final-1.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas Wissell Interview<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>___<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Transcripts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>IQRA:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>HELLO EVERYONE AND WELCOME BACK TO THE BMCC OPENLAB STUDENT VOICES PODCAST.&nbsp; I\u2019M YOUR HOST, IQRA SHEIKH AND TODAY WE\u2019RE TALKING TO LUCAS WISSELL, A SECONDARY EDUCATION MAJOR AT BMCC. IN THIS EPISODE, HE WILL SHARE HIS NONLINEAR JOURNEY TOWARD HIS PASSION, AND HOW HE ENDED UP CHOOSING A CAREER IN EDUCATION. LET\u2019S LISTEN TO HIS STORY.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Hi, my name is Iqra and I am here with the Open Lab for Students Voices and today\u2019s guest is\u2026&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: Hey, everybody. My name is Lucas. I\u2019m a secondary education major at BMCC transferring to Hunter next semester.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Wow. Hunter. Big stuff. I also went to Hunter after BMCC. So, we\u2019re going to start off with what\u2019s your major.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: Yes, yes. So, secondary education in social studies to be precise. So, I\u2019ve taken a few education courses some history courses and have an interest in literature at the moment. It\u2019s something that\u2019s really changed the game for me and really broadened my horizons and opened me up to actually changing my major from what I started here at.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Oh, so when you go to Hunter, what are you going to major in?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: Education.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Right.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: So, but when I started here at BMCC. I started with this program called Year Up. I don\u2019t know if you\u2019re familiar with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>iqra:&nbsp; I\u2019ve heard of Year Up.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: And that\u2019s actually the reason why I came to BMCC was because I needed to be in a college setting to get an internship through this program. I never had any plans to go to college. I just needed a job.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: I was the same way.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: Yeah?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Yeah. I moved out at 17 and I was just, you know, I mean, I was a waitress. I was like, okay, this is my life. But something in me just kept saying, go to school. So, I went to school. I did night classes here at BMCC.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: Oh, wow. That\u2019s interesting. I can relate. I also moved out at 17 right when I got out of high school. And I was a mechanic. I was working at bike shops and then working in a kitchen at nights as a line cook. And I never wanted to go back to school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Really?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: So, that\u2019s where we differ. Yeah, I never wanted to go back to school. I hated high school so much. It was absolutely awful. I barely made it through. And it wasn\u2019t until I saw all my friends succeeding and getting these corporate jobs and going places and getting real apartments and not just living in some room in somebody else\u2019s apartment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: No, no. That\u2019s your success too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: Of course. Well, thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Yes. This is because the route you took, that\u2019s not a common one. So, it\u2019s ten times harder to like navigate that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: It certainly felt that way.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: And to be here right now, you have overcame stuff that your friends don\u2019t even know how to navigate. But you learned the skills to navigate that.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: Wow. Thank you, Iqra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: So, you need to give yourself more credit.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: Okay. All right, Lucas. Give yourself some credit. I\u2019m going to give myself a pat on the back right now. Thank you.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: So how did you hear about Year Up?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: I had a friend who did the Year Up program a few years ago. He got an internship at Bank of America. And he\u2019s been there for like five years now. He\u2019s got a good salary. He\u2019s got an apartment. His girl moved in together. And frankly, I was a little jealous.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: So he told you about Year Up?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: He told me about Year Up. I applied. They said, if you want to be in the business program, working with people and communications and things like that, you need to be taking business classes at a college. So BMCC was my next stop. Signed up for classes here under the Small Business Entrepreneurship major. And that was it. I started taking classes. And I realized, like, oh, if I put my mind to it, I can do this. And I started to love it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Okay. Cool. Well, so now when you go to Hunter, you\u2019re going to do education, though.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: Yeah. Yeah. So I had a long time coming, figuring out what I was doing. So I\u2019m taking these business classes in my first few semesters here, accounting and, you know, business 101 and business law and math classes, statistics. And I\u2019m like, this just isn\u2019t me. And so I did some serious soul searching. Like, what am I doing? What do I want? Right? Because now I\u2019m here. Now this is in front of me. Like, where do I go? Let me just go back. Year Up didn\u2019t work out. They didn\u2019t have internships for everyone. Their program fell through. It was really bad that time that everybody was there. There was only, like, ten of us in that cohort that actually got internships. The other 50 of us didn\u2019t. They said, you know, you can try and get a job. And I said, well, yeah, I want a job, but I\u2019m also going to school. Right. And so I wanted an internship that would match up with my school schedule. Yeah. You know. So I thought, what am I interested in? What am I good at? What do I want to do? Where are my passions? And there was a lot of things I realized along the way. For one, I was just talking with somebody yesterday about, like, passions. We put so much importance on this, like, idea that we have to be completely and utterly in love with what we do. And I\u2019ve realized that passion is kind of like happiness for me. And maybe you can relate to this. And to me, happiness is like a moment that you can look back on. And so passion is the same way. Sometimes I\u2019m really passionate about something. And other times, maybe not so much.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Yeah.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: And so it kind of, like, waxes and wanes. And it kind of fades at times. But there\u2019s usually something there. And so for the past, let\u2019s see, 10 years now, I\u2019ve been working with children. Teaching kids. I\u2019ve been running, like, day camps and, like, my own private thing. And I\u2019ve been teaching kids mainly how to ride bicycles. It\u2019s just like a side business.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Adorable.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: It\u2019s absolutely adorable. Yeah. And I teach mainly 4- to 6-year-olds. Oh. They\u2019re just, like, bundles of joy when they\u2019re not, you know, screaming and crying.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: And I\u2019m really good at it. I\u2019m really good at working with kids. And I\u2019m really good at teaching. So I thought, why don\u2019t I try and become a teacher? And so that\u2019s when I decided to change my major. I did some more research, and I thought I could be a teacher. Let\u2019s do this. The next question was, do I want to work with kids this age? 5-, 6-, 7-year-old age, like in elementary school. And after working with those at age for the past 10 years, I realized I wanted to do more. I wanted to do more with kids. More with students, rather. And by that, I mean talking about life and, you know, like, learning life skills more than just, like, riding a bicycle. So that\u2019s when I signed up for the secondary education major, which is high school.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: So right now I\u2019m on the path to becoming a high school teacher with a focus on English, an English teacher, essentially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Oh, you know, all of my best teachers ever since I was in school were history and English, they just leave such an impact. So you\u2019re doing the teacher education via early childhood?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: Oh, no, no. Not early childhood. So secondary education in social studies. That\u2019s the major that BMCC has right now. They actually \u2013 BMCC doesn\u2019t actually have a secondary education in English, so hopefully we\u2019ll see some changes in the future. Hopefully that will change. So I\u2019ve been taking a lot of history classes and, you know, building a framework for the world, and that\u2019s been so important. Yeah.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Wow. Hearing your story is, like, really nice. It\u2019s, like, warm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: Oh, thank you.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: It\u2019s a warm story. So when you go to Hunter, is there a program to get your teacher certificate? Or it\u2019s like, how is that going to work to continue building this path that you found for yourself to be a high school teacher?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: Right, right. From what I\u2019ve researched and what I\u2019ve learned, the education majors, when you finish \u2013 okay, let me back it up. To become a teacher for public schools in New York City, you have to have a master\u2019s degree.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Okay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: And when you get that degree, it\u2019s a degree to become a teacher, so it doesn\u2019t necessarily apply to other fields. You\u2019re taking a test, and that test is a certificate. So your degree is essentially a certificate to becoming a teacher in public schools. So once I get to Hunter or finish my bachelor\u2019s degree \u2013 I mean, finish it. I haven\u2019t even started it. But, you know, you have to think ahead. It\u2019s about having a plan.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Because you\u2019re getting your associates. You\u2019re finishing the bachelor\u2019s because it\u2019s two years, and then the bachelor\u2019s is two years then. So you are finishing your bachelor\u2019s somehow because you\u2019re starting here by getting your associates and getting the two years off of the bachelor\u2019s, and then you\u2019re left with two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: Right, right. Like, let\u2019s just keep this train going, you know.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Yes, exactly. So, are you gonna get your masters as well or do you only need your bachelors?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: RIght now, that\u2019s the plan, to get my masters. Like, let\u2019s stay in school as long as we can until we really wanna pull out. Like, my sister, she wanted to do that too, and she wanted to get more education, and she got her bachelor\u2019s degree, and that\u2019s enough. With that degree I\u2019ll get this job and that\u2019s fine for me for now. And I said, that\u2019s great for you, but for me, where I\u2019m at, I wanna keep going. I want to become educated. Because now, I\u2019m going to school, I love learning, I love, you know, gaining knowledge, and being able to apply it. And for me, it\u2019s about, like I said earlier, building a framework for the world and a better understanding. Widening the field of ambiguity and being able to see the different layers in each situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Yes, I can tell you are really passionate.You are definitely an intellectual and an academic. Yes. I feel like, you are very \u201ccafe vibes\u201d. You, know? \u201cCafe reading a book vibes\u201d. Yeah, that\u2019s beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: What is an advice you\u2019d give to your younger self entering BMCC\u2014things you know now that you didn\u2019t know before?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: Looking back, the advice I would give myself \u2026 get used to staying up and reading late. At first it was really hard\u2026 all I wanted to do was just like turn on the TV and tune out and say ok classes are done for the day. But I found great solace and comfort in opening up a book, not necessarily by candle light, even though that\u2019s kind of romantic and fun. But just sitting and reading at night. It has been really good to learn so much. It\u2019s been better for my brain, I feel like, learning more and.. you get it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Yeah. Yes, I do. I\u2019m currently reading Dracula<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: Uh\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: And it\u2019s so hard, I\u2019m like in page 83. But I\u2019m right on it, I always have my dictionary open, like, circuling words. Ans yeah, like you said, at first its hard, because first, we are always on our phones or something, but it\u2019s so beautiful to just read. Even just for five pages a night, that is enough. You are doing a good job by just reading. So, ok, the encouragement tor read, I think that is a good advice because when I was a student at BMCC, that didn\u2019t hit me till later that I need to read the stuff that my professors are giving me. Like, I would not read it cause it\u2019s like, its pointless, cause its\u2026 when I started reading it its no, this makes sense! Now I understand the classes ten times more and I am excited to go to class because I can talk about the things that I\u2019ve learned.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: Yeah, yeah, it\u2019s exciting, it feels good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: It does feel good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: So if there\u2026ok wait. What are some resources that you would like to see at BMCC that are not being offered?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: Oh man\u2026you know, I worked at \u2026 I worked with a group called impact\u2026its mentoring and I loved it\u2026I love working with impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: I had a lot of fun working with different people but I learned all the different resources that we have at the school and they are limitless\u2026 we have more resources here than probably any other school in the city. Even some of the private schools\u2026some of the private universities don\u2019t have the resources that we have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: and there are so many outlets here as well..we\u2019ve got so many clubs\u2026if you\u2019re interested in anything just do a min\u2026a tiny bit of research and you\u2019ll find what you\u2019re looking for\u2026just put yourself out there and sometimes your best resource can be your best friend\u2026 actually your best resource is yourself\u2026learning to trust yourself\u2026and asking for help is great\u2026please ask for help\u2026so um\u2026i don\u2019t think i could add to that<em>&nbsp;to what other resources BMCC needs<\/em>. \u2026 maybe some more free food days like thursdays is when you can get free food down at the Panther Pantry\u2026umm if you need anything you could go to ARC<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: What\u2019s ARC?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: ARC is the advocacy and resource center. \u2026 I mean there\u2019s other resources within the arc that you can take advantage of\u2026 I mean we\u2019ve got the women\u2019s resource center, the counseling center, the career development center and you know always speak up for yourself you know<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Yea i\u2019ve definitely used all of those when I was a student here.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: oh its super useful&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: it is and also like filing your taxes here\u2026&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: oh yea get your taxes done. you don\u2019t want that to come back and bite you<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: its free for students here\u2026 ok any last words?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: Iqra thank you so much for having me on\u2026this has been really nice and Im glad to have gotten my word out there \u2026you know keep trying in school<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: yes<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: it may feel hopeless but its not\u2026 and talk to your professors\u2026this semester i had a really hard time in my literature course\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: its super dense\u2026im like three essays behind\u2026im not perfect<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: talk to your professor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: I did that and she told me&nbsp;<em>take your time you\u2019ll have time over the holidays we\u2019ll accept it late<\/em>\u2026i mean thats not the case for everyone but talk to your professors.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: I agree. When i was a student here working paying my own bills\u2026 and being a student here\u2026i felt so ashamed to tell professors&nbsp;<em>like hey im literally working right now in my job to make money for rent and im behind the assignments but I will do it\u2026<\/em>if i did this sooner it would have saved me so many bad grades\u2026i started doing that towards my last semester at BMCC and they were very understanding because they were like&nbsp;<em>yea you\u2019re an adult not just a student you\u2019re on your own navigating life as well, we will accommodate something reasonable&nbsp;<\/em>\u2026 and it\u2019s just like yea\u2026talk to your professors because they\u2019re human too and they understand \u2026and if you\u2019re willing to let them know like what\u2019s been happening they will see that you are here to actually win and do something and not just to have fun.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: yea yea do yourself a favor and show up to class<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra:&nbsp;<em>&nbsp;<\/em>and talk to your professors. \u2026 ok well\u2026thanks so much for joining \u2026this is going to the third episode of our podcast. Hope that\u2019s a good number&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas: Sounds goood to me \u2026 well thanks everyone have a good day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iqra: Byeee<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>___<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>IQRA:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>IN THIS EPISODE, LUCAS REFLECTS ON HIS UNCONVENTIONAL PATH THROUGH COLLEGE. FROM WORKING AS A BIKE MECHANIC AND LINE COOK TO DISCOVERING HIS PASSION FOR TEACHING, LUCAS SHARES HOW HIS EXPERIENCES SHAPED HIS ACADEMIC JOURNEY AT BMCC AND BEYOND. IF YOU\u2019VE EVER FELT UNCERTAIN ABOUT YOUR FUTURE OR QUESTIONED YOUR PATH, LUCAS\u2019 STORY IS A REMINDER THAT SUCCESS ISN\u2019T ALWAYS LINEAR\u2014AND THAT FINDING YOUR PASSION CAN COME FROM THE MOST UNEXPECTED PLACES.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>THIS EPISODE IS PART OF OUR THIRD SEASON,&nbsp;<em>FINDING YOUR PATH THROUGH COLLEGE,<\/em>&nbsp;FOCUSING ON THE STORIES OF STUDENTS WHO HAVE EXPLORED, QUESTIONED, AND DISCOVERED THE PATH THEY WANT TO FOLLOW, BOTH AT BMCC AND IN LIFE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>IF YOU HAVE A STORY YOU\u2019D LIKE TO SHARE ON A FUTURE EPISODE OR A MESSAGE FOR THE STUDENT IN THIS EPISODE, EMAIL US AT&nbsp;<strong>BMCC.OPENLAB.PODCAST@GMAIL.COM<\/strong>. YOUR VOICE MATTERS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>THANK YOU FOR LISTENING, AND SEE YOU IN THE NEXT EPISODE OF THE OPENLAB STUDENT VOICES PODCAST!<\/p>\n<p>Views: 203<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5555,"featured_media":893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcast","category-season-3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/openlab-for-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/openlab-for-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/openlab-for-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/openlab-for-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5555"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/openlab-for-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=931"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/openlab-for-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":933,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/openlab-for-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931\/revisions\/933"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/openlab-for-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/openlab-for-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/openlab-for-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/openlab-for-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}