For most teenagers in the United States, responsibility is being trusted behind the wheel of two-tons of steel without getting in an accident. At 16, Jamisen Beechler-Ernst took responsibility of her future, committing herself to the most passionate force in her life — educating children with special needs.
Six years later, the kindness cemented inside of Beechler-Ernst’s heart hasn’t waivered. She is a fourth-year at Elon University majoring in special and elementary education major. She’s working as a student-teacher at Hillcrest Elementary in Burlington, working with seven children that all have learning disabilities or severe behavioral issues.
Her shining personality and desire to help others helps connect her to people all across the world.
“I’ve always been a people person, I like to be around little kids,” she said. “It’s not only that I found something that makes me feel good, I love what I do.”
Mara Frontera, friend and recent graduate of Elon, thinks Beechler-Ernst’s her passion is overlooked because of her personality.
“Yes she’s really funny, really, social, and really smart but she’s someone who really caring, really passionate about things,” Frontera said.
Beechler-Ernst did not always have a euphoric feeling about her profession. Before discovering special education, she wanted follow in the footsteps of close family-friend and become a lawyer.
INITIAL INFLUENCES
As an only child, Beechler-Ernst’s parents divorced when she was four. Her father moved to the Hamptons, and her mother stayed on Long Island. She was the centerpiece, and bounced around several different schools.
She spent 2nd grade in Long Beach, 3rd through 5th grade at in the Hamptons with her dad, and then went back to Long Beach for 7th and 8th grade.
“ I need teachers that care about me,” Beechler-Ernst said. “The public school system was fine, but I would’ve failed.”
The divorce sent a rift through the family. The couple lived two hours apart and moving Beechler-Ernst back-and-forth put a strain on her relationship with her friends.
“There are tensions, as there are in every broken family situation,” her mother, Schon Beechler said.
FINDING HER PASSION
She started to make ‘wrong decisions’ and ‘wrong friends’. Beechler’s mother instinct kicked in, and she took notice.
“I think she was going through a lot during her teen years,” Beechler said. “I wanted her to start to think about her own finances and have some financial independence.”
Beechler-Ernst had no job experience, so her neighbor referred her to work at Camp A.N.C.H.O.R, (Answering The Needs of Citizens with Handicaps through Organized Recreation), a program dedicated to children and adults with special needs.
“It came together in this beautiful way and she (Jamisen) really changed her orientation both in what she wanted in life and what is important in life,” Beechler said.
The neighbor, who is now in his 50’s, worked for Camp A.N.C.H.O.R for the 15 years and is now the legal guardian of one of his former campers.
“This camp was so impactful to him that we wanted to adopt someone,” Beechler-Ernst said.
Beechler-Ernst’s neighbor helped her bypass a wait list to be a volunteer at the camp. Everyone at the camp wanted to make a difference. There were 300 volunteers, 200 paid employees, and 500 campers.
Working in a one-to-one, camper to employee ratio was the perfect storm for Beechler-Ernst to find her passion and hone her craft.
“It was just the thing that I needed,” she said. “Everyone was so happy to be there. I realize this is an awesome thing there’s so much more than being cranky about being alive,” she said.
While she didn’t know it at the time, Beechler-Ernst found her calling. The work she did at Camp A.N.C.H.O.R helped Beechler-Ernst continue her dedication to service.
“It came together in this beautiful way and she (Jamisen) really changed her orientation both in what she wanted in life and what is important in life,” Beechler said.
She recalls her daughter taking a babysitting job 90 minutes away to continue to work with special needs children. Even a parent with a child who has special needs asked Jamisen to give her tips on how to raise her child.
“She has a special gift,” Beechler said.
Between her freshman and sophomore year of high school, Beechler-Ernst was in the midst of a tough transition, moving again from a public school, this time to Friend’s Academy, a private, Quaker high school.
“I would almost actually consider myself a Quaker after going there,” Beechler-Ernst said. Based on their testimony they believe in peace, service, integrity, community, equality, and sustainability.”
At Friend’s Academy, Beechler-Ernst helped facilitate an art therapy program and community service program.
“We’re so lucky that we have a great education, there’s so much good that we can do,” she said.
If Beechler-Ernst had a second calling, it would be her passion for education reform.
“Yes she’s really funny, really, social, and really smart but she’s someone who really caring, really passionate about things,” Frontera said.
A few weeks ago, she went to see Temple Grandin, an avid activist for autism, speak on Elon’s campus. Frontera said Beechler-Ernst begged her to go. The Long Island native was so excited she bought tickets to see Grandin two weeks early.
“People actually don’t believe she’s that smart, but once you start talking to her, she’s actually so smart,” Frontera said. “She’ll tell stories about her kids and how much they are improving, but sometimes she’ll go on an education system rant, she’s so passionate about it, she’ll explain all the flaws in the system.”
Beechler-Ernst will continue her pursuit in transforming the nature of education. She is working as a special education teacher for Teach for America next year in Colorado.
FINDING A NEW HOME
People, more than place are a constant in Beechler-Ernst’s life. Growing up and always switching school was detrimental, but in 2012, when Hurricane Sandy flooded New York, her home in Long Beach was destroyed.
Two years later, everything changed.
Her mother sold the house in 2016 and now works for INSEAD, a global graduate business school with locations in London, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi. Her father sold his house in the Hamptons and moved to Hawaii this past October.
Elon is constant. Elon is her ‘rock’.
“I love the local community, I think if Elon wasn’t here I could see myself staying in Burlingon, North Carolina and teaching here,” Beechler-Ernst said. “I think having good people in my life and good experiences made it easier for me to be like “this is a good place to call home,” she said.
Throughout her tenure at Elon, Frontera noticed through Beechler-Ernst’s ups and downs in her life and at Elon, her passion to help the kids helped her push through.
“The only motivating factor she had was ‘I’m going to do this for them (the kids) and not for me’.”
