Allyson Givens is set to begin a lifelong dream of teaching English and working with young students.
Givens graduates with honors on Saturday, May 4, with a bachelor of education degree specializing in adolescent and young adult education and a bachelor of arts degree in English specializing in English literature.
CELEBRATING SUCCESS: UToledo recognizes the Class of 2024 with a series of stories featuring students receiving their degrees at spring commencement.
“I always had a passion for the English language,” Givens said. “My English teacher had cultivated a classroom environment that encouraged student agency and open discussion. As I sat in class every day, I began to picture myself as a teacher, selecting novels to read throughout the year, creating essay prompts, and asking students discussion questions. When I entered college full-time, I carried these positive memories with me.”
Her love of teaching and languages led her to Rocket Kids, an experiential learning program that provides educational development and recreational programming to the United States Army’s children in Europe. After being accepted, Givens received the chance to travel to a NATO base in the Netherlands last summer.
“It was intimidating to join the first cohort of students, and travel across the world. When I first applied in the fall 2022, I had no idea what location I would be sent to, or who I would be going with,” Givens said. “I soon came to adore my fellow Rocket Kids interns, and have formed a newfound appreciation for the youth programs provided to military families.”
The trip involved travelling to nearby towns, camps, sports, and learning about the unique cultures of each kid. The interns also took the opportunity to travel around Europe to teach themselves about the cities they visited.
“This experience was certainly memorable and provided a unique insight into a community and culture far different from my own in Toledo,” she said. “I discovered an appreciation for biking to work instead of driving. I learned the value of speaking a little bit of the native language, even if it was simply ‘good morning’ or ‘thank you’. It connected me with lifelong friends. In addition, it ignited my passion for exploration and intercultural communication, and continues to produce new opportunities for me.”
Givens also is a part of the Jesup Scott Honors College, where she is required to complete a thesis of her choice. For her project, she worked on focused on ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence models.
Allyson Givens’ love of teaching and languages led her to Rocket Kids, an experiential learning program that provides educational development and recreational programming to the United States Army’s children in Europe.
“The basis of the project is determining the potential of artificial intelligence’s ability to streamline and augment the item development process for psychological self-report measures, with my honors thesis concentrating on the construct of loneliness,” Givens said. “Self-report measures play a critical role in psychological research as it chronicles the behaviors and experiences of the participant. However, the traditional method of creating these assessments is labor intensive; using ChatGPT or other AI models to conduct a preliminary review would reduce time and energy spent by experts and the development team.”
On this project she worked with Dr. Michael Toland, executive director of the Herb Innovation Center.
“Allyson is an exceptional undergraduate honors student who has significantly contributed to our research team over the past year,” Toland said. “Her dedication to the honors research project has been invaluable. As a key member of our team, Allyson’s dependability and critical insights have been key to our project’s success. Collaborating with Allyson on her honors thesis project was truly a privilege.”
Givens currently works as a student teacher at Start High School, where she instructs four tenth-grade English language arts classes. With all her experience and ambition that she earned from UToledo, she is set to continue her education after graduation and to one day educate young scholars.
“I am not quite sure where my journey will take me upon graduation,” she said. “I hope to pursue a career where I can express my creativity and have a positive influence on my community, and further my education by pursuing a graduate degree.
