Looking at her path:
Melina Leite has been working at EAC since 2004, from the young age of 19. She’s currently 38, meaning that she dedicated her life to EAC for about 19 years. While she was taking a technician course and biochemistry, EAC hired her as a lab assistant intern. In 2005, she was hired in a fixed position and then became a teacher a few years later.
Right after finalizing her technician course, she spent 6 months in “Cursinho” (a preparatory course for taking the university entrance exam) and took the Vestibular to get into UNICAMP. After getting accepted at UNICAMP, she took the biology course during the evening while she was working in EAC as a lab assistant during the day. Basically, she worked in EAC and went to college at the same time for 5 years. It was exhausting but she was young, passionate, and enthusiastic to endure this strict routine.
It was by chance that she came to work at EAC, but her consistent efforts and outstanding qualities as a teacher also played a role. As usual, she was doing a technician course but saw the announcement in school that they were finding someone as an assistant. Even though she wasn’t fluent in English, she wanted to challenge herself and overcome the hardship with her outstanding passion. EAC recognized her passion and offered her an opportunity. They gave her a chance to professionally learn and grow a lot. After a few years of working as a lab assistant, EAC recognized Melina’s qualifications as a teacher, she started working as a health teacher and gradually expanded her influence over the EAC Science community.
Hardships she had to overcome:
In the beginning, it was hard to gain the trust of the student’s parents. She not only had never worked as a teacher before, but also she did not speak English well making it challenging to remove those concerns. However, stepping into the real world as a teacher at a very young age, Melina was encouraged by her parents every single moment. They kept motivating her and helped her to go further. With her exceptional passion, she improved her English skills rapidly and she was recognized by EAC for her qualifications as a teacher and became an official ‘science’ teacher.
As a lab assistant, supervising a science fair was the most challenging thing for her. At that time, EAC was even smaller and she was the only lab assistant. But she needed to help whole upper school students from 6th grade to 12 grade with the project.
As a teacher, being an IB teacher was the hardest challenge for her. In the first year of IB, she had to learn how the program works while having different classes with IB students, 10th graders, and even middle school students. This meant that she had to deal with diverse topics with a large number of students, making her a little overwhelmed. Besides this overwhelming moment, she also felt privileged and proud to get the trust of the school and have the opportunity to work professionally.
Special Memory in EAC:
For her, being an undergraduate while working was memorable. One special thing that she remembers is when she was accepted to UNICAMP while working in EAC in 2007. As UNICAMP released the acceptance list earlier than scheduled, one former teacher came to her and told her that she was accepted when she was cleaning glassware in the lab. Right after checking her name on the list, she started screaming with happiness.
In Brazil, there’s the tradition of the youngest one passing college paint their faces with the letter of the major. She remembered that when she came back to EAC to work, lots of students similar to her age congratulated her. During the registration period, senior students also painted Melina’s face with the letter “BIO,” creating valuable memories. It was pleasant for her to have this experience of sharing feelings with the students in EAC.
“My history as a student is well connected with my history as a professional in EAC. I don’t think that I can detach one from another in my life.”
– Yeowon Choi –
EAC PRESS 