About me
Hi, my name is Carlos Hasbun, and I was born in the small Latin American country of El Salvador. At the age of one years old, I immigrated to Worcester Massachusetts, the birthplace of modern rockets. I have always had a passion for the sciences and physics specifically, learning about it through television or on YouTube. I knew I wanted to major in physics since the 5th grade, but the exact direction was unknown until my senior year when I received an email from the Education department to sign up for their program. This is my story of how I decided to enter the teaching profession and what that means to me.
Growing up in Main South
I’ve lived in the Main South Community my entire life, with my educational career beginning in Goddard Elementary school, to University Park Campus school across the street, and finally Clark University which is just a few blocks away from both schools. However, this community carried its own bad reputation, being the ghetto of Worcester. Where everyone desires to “escape” the hood but there are many obstacles for those who desire to. This was the reality I grew up in, when the opioid crisis was hitting the hardest. Even though this was an area surrounded by schools, the sight of people under the influence and broken orange tipped syringes was a too familiar sight on the walks home from school. This is the same neighborhood that my students live in, and while I hope they were too young to remember this era, their parents were not and the memory of trauma is not an isolated event, there still remains the lingering effects. Looking back, school was a safe haven for me and others as it allowed us the chance to just be a teenager for 6 hours of the day, even if some of us were dealing with homelessness, poverty, and much more. For my students, them being able to have a place of escape can be the most valuable aspect of them coming to schools.
Falling in love with Physics and the Stars
As a child, I had fallen in love with science, doing experiments during 5th grade. At that time, I gained access to the Science channel where I would watch Michio Kaku or Niel deGrasse Tyson explain black holes, origin of the moon, the big bang, and so much more that I was captivated by the universe itself. From this, my dream job was to become an astronomer which with time, would shape into becoming a physicist. While my love for the stars never withered, I eventually fell in love with the four laws of Thermodynamics when I discovered through a song by Muse. I ended up learning about them myself because of how captivated I was by the concept of Entropy. I even made a promise to myself that when I covered the law of conservation of energy, I was going to classify it as a law of thermodynamics as a way of expanding and opening the door for my students to learn more. As I finished teaching the unit about thermal energy, I can say that I succeeded in keeping this promise to myself.
Physicist Influences on my path to teaching:
There were two main Physicist that influenced my path to teaching. One of them was Richard P. Feynman, when I read his book, “Surely you’re joking, Mr. Feynman”, an autobiography by him. He is famous for some discoveries in physics, but I say he is best known for being a professor, finding ways to convey difficult concepts in a manner that was accessible and exciting. Something as simple as the explanation of fire sound as exciting as a fairytale. However, one chapter of his book, he was talking about his joy of being a professor instead of someone who only does research in a lab, and he mentions the excitement of both teaching and learning from his students. This single line made me decide to enter some form of a teaching profession. This was even more meaningful as this was a book given to me by my middle school teacher, Mr. Kobialka.
The second Physicist was my professor, Alexander Petroff, who I ended up having for six semesters worth during my undergraduate career. Whenever I was able to take a class by him, I was excited as even his homework problems carried a sense of creativity and amazement. There were assignments in which I used the topics to explain the physics of a diving whale, nuclear bomb, moon dust, and so much more that made me feel like a physicist instead of a student solving problems out of a textbook. Finding ways in which to get the content across in creative ways is something I wish to do more myself as a teacher.
Working at UMass Marlborough
I started working at UMass Marlborough on August of 2019, to which I am still officially employed by. My job title there is “Patient Observer”, which in the general description of the responsibilities is, “maintain constant observations of individuals classified by a medical professional, or the state, as being unable to be left alone without probable risk to self, or others.” The demographic I served ranged from young teenagers to geriatric patients who were struggling with mental illnesses such as dementia, psychosis, depression, or life challenges such as foster care and more. Focusing on the teenage demographic, those were often the hardest to handle emotionally as we had many returning patients, with some of them staying in a windowless emergency department for upwards of a month while they waited placement within an in-patient mental health facility for minors. I would hear stories of how some had teachers making accommodations to welcome them back to class or being just expected to catch up. Through the intersection of this job and becoming a teacher, all I can think of is, “how can I ensure students returning from a hospitalization feel safe?” As I transition from my job as patient observer to full time teacher, the mental health of my students will continue to be a priority for me.