A Clover Park School District story.
Our Clover Park School District Promising Futures Friday featured student this week is Carter Lake Elementary School fifth grader Joanna Cromer.
Joanna moved to the United States during fourth grade after her family was stationed in Germany for eight years. There have been many days when Joanna misses her home, but the Carter Lake community has helped her adjust to life in Washington. “My teachers and friends at school helped me with my language, made me feel comfortable by showing me around and got someone to help me with writing in English,” she said.
Joanna’s mother is German, and her father is American, so Joanna and her sister are both fluent in English and German. When she arrived at Carter Lake, she was grateful for the support of her class who helped her hone her English skills. “One thing my fourth grade teacher did that I loved was letting me teach my class German on Fridays,” she said. “They would say a word in English, and I would tell them how we say it in German, so we all learned new words in both languages.”
With the help of her teachers, writing has become Joanna’s favorite subject. “If I don’t get something I know I can always ask my friends, tablemates or my teacher and he’ll explain things to me really well,” she said. “I write in cursive, can write really fast and just like thinking about stories, especially creative stories like one I’ve been working on that shows what pets do when people aren’t around.”
Joanna also loves working with children and hopes to have a career that specializes in child care one day. “I love helping, reading and playing with kids, so I want to work in a daycare or preschool,” she said.
