Dragana moved to the United States from Serbia in 2018. She started taking FCPS ACE English classes that year at Bryant. She also took classes online in 2020. Her native language is Serbian.
In Serbia, she worked a lot! She worked at a radio station for 24 years. She loved it – she worked with everything from sound, to advertising, to talking to callers on the radio! She also worked at a taxi station during that time. She calls herself a “workaholic.”
In January 2021, she saw a post on the Bryant Facebook Group about a virtual career fair for FCPS Classroom Monitors. She got help updating her resume for this new position from the Career Navigator and applied for the job. In total, Dragana got invited to 11 interviews and received 5 job offers!
She accepted a job at Whitman Middle School earlier this year. That position was temporary but when it ended in June, she was asked to apply for a different aide position at the school. Now she’s working in a third position at Whitman Middle School: she’s a Student Monitor. She also works at Bryant as an ACE ESOL site assistant on Monday and Wednesday nights! She still enjoys working as much as she can.
Dragana has some good advice for other English learners. She said that in the United States, you can work in a field you love, but you have to know what you want and then work toward that. Before she got her job with Whitman Middle School, she volunteered as an assistant for an ACE ESOL class. This helped her get more experience and practice English – and gain confidence.
Dragana says, “Work with your hands when you’re young and with your head when you’re older.” She said when you are young it is a great time to work jobs that require moving, standing, and working with your hands. When you’re older, your mind is better than ever and then it is good to have a job that uses your brain.
She knows that being an English learner can sometimes be frustrating. There were times she knew she could do a job, but it wasn’t possible because of her English level. She said, "The key is to practice every day – and never give up!"
