Khara Bauer
Class of 2007
By: Megan Griffin
Khara Bauer is originally from Delaware, since graduation she has moved back to Delaware with her husband and son. She is also expecting her second baby very soon!
At Elon, Khara studied Education, she originally planned to major in Religious Studies, but then realized the power of teaching and being able to utilize a college degree to help others. After graduating in 2007, Khara immediately spent part of her summer in Honduras! She worked with the Medical Brigades and also went to Flor Azul with Karen Godt, founder of Hope for Honduran Children. While in Honduras, she had the opportunity to enhance her Spanish speaking skills in order to communicate better with Hondurans.
She began her teaching career after her experience in Honduras; she first taught third grade and then taught kindergarten for four years. While teaching kindergarten and the third grade, she often had ESL students in her classroom. Through her interactions with the ESL students in her classroom she realized that she adored teaching ESL. She wanted to expand her ESL knowledge, so she decided to go back to school to get her masters. She now works as an ESL teacher in two elementary schools and one middle school. Her passion for teaching translated this past February when Khara was named the Teacher of the Year at Beacon Middle School!
While at Elon, Khara joined Periclean Scholars as a way to link arms with other devoted student-leaders to make a difference in the world. Her Periclean Class spent the majority of their first year researching their country of focus and topic. Khara felt that by the time they got the ball rolling, time had slipped away from them. Rather than focusing on the impact their class had in Honduras, she discussed the impact that their Class had on the program. Their Class enhanced the Periclean Scholars program by laying down the stepping stones for future classes. The Class of 2016 in some ways picked up where they left off and were able to partner with Hope for Honduran Children!
In reflecting about her involvement in Periclean, Khara recognizes how much time the process of finding the appropriate focus and partners takes, that is why helping future classes is so influential and meaningful.
When asked what the biggest takeaway was from being involved in the Periclean Scholars program, Khara said that it was “the recognition that she was capable of educating others.”
Although she educates others directly in her career, she also shares the ideas and values of Periclean Scholars in her everyday life. She portrays these ideals in things such as gift giving and finding creative ways to spread her own knowledge to friends and family.
“At Christmas time I will donate in someone’s name. At my wedding, instead of having a wedding cake, my husband and I gave out chocolate from Chile and a statement about how much money was donated because we decided to not spend money on a wedding cake.”
With the chocolate, they also handed out information about her experiences in Honduras. I was impressed with this creative idea to spread awareness and contribute financially to something they were so passionate about.
She is excited for the future of the program and encourages others to attend Elon because of the unique opportunity to be involved in an academic and extracurricular service organization.
Khara’s statement (below) while she was in Periclean Scholars at Elon shows how passionate she was, and still is, about the Periclean Scholars program.
“There is not another organization that is better suited to use our available resources, our love, will and enthusiasm to help less fortunate members of our global society. We all want to make a difference for the better, and Pericles makes it happen.”
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