Flex Year Part Two
- davidshapiro27
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
As I embarked on the second half of my flex year, I continued to build on what I had started in the fall and embarked on new adventures.
My substitute teaching in Maynard increased dramatically. I became more comfortable with subbing and expanded to middle school in February. During my subbing journey, I worked as an 8th grade science teacher and dealt with students requesting to eat ice from the ice machine in the room, facilitated fifth graders passing out cards on Valentine's Day, ran the makerspace where a kid came in holding a baby duck in his hand, subbed 6th grade math and helped students with integer operations, managed middle school gym and health, read stories as the elementary school librarian, ran a first grade and third grade class, subbed 10th grade history and continued to be a para sub in kindergarten.
On my last day in the elementary school, I read my Kylo Kangaroo book to the preschoolers and they drew pictures of Kylo trying new things they were going to try soon such as kindergarten and hiking.
I decided to further my employment in Maynard by getting a job at the Maynard Fine Arts Theatre and Creamery. I started in April selling concessions and helping manage the movie projectors and have since been switched to the theatre creamery serving ice cream. It’s a chill job and I enjoy it.
In addition to those jobs, I have been continuing my self-employed tech work making a website for a client and helping with computer problems.
And I've had success booking paid acting gigs! In January, I headed off to New York to be in the background of a Law and Order SVU episode. You can see me briefly in the promo below (content warning: very disturbing situation in the episode)
I also spent a few days acting in a lead role for a paid Emerson thesis film in Ipswich. In addition, I worked on a company promo in Cambridge and was in the background of an upcoming feature film.
The brand film I was a part of in December is now out. You can view the main video and one I am more well featured in below. The Wargames movie parody I was in also came out this Spring so it is also attached below:
Storylane Brand Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQhqJ0cTLko&t=5s
Storylane Short: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/D1XoWewduqs
Wargames Parody: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4dBDLo7R5U
A big goal of mine for the Flex Year was to live an extended amount of time in a culturally different place. After extensive research, I decided on volunteering in Cambodia as an English teacher for three weeks. I found the HELO School through Workaway and in exchange for teaching, I was provided with free room and board.
 On the way there, I visited Thailand and at the end of the trip, I ventured south to Perth Australia which is the farthest city on earth from the east coast of the USA. All those experiences were so cool, and I have now made a three-part series about that trip which can be viewed here.
At the end of May, Elina, her husband and I flew down to Greensboro, North Carolina where Elina and I grew up. We had a packed trip full of visiting our favorite locations and seeing our friends. I had last visited in 2022, and it felt really good to be back again.
Though there is still some time left in the flex year, I am looking ahead to what will come after it. I will be attending a two-year master’s program in Computer Science at Tufts University and will move to a Tufts-affiliated house in Somerville with 2 housemates – one of whom I know from Brandeis.
See you next time!
-David
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