Hundreds of\u00a0high school\u00a0students visited East Stroudsburg University\u00a0on Nov. 12 for an immersive\u00a0learning\u00a0experience\u00a0designed to inspire and recruit future educators, address\u00a0teacher\u00a0shortages, and build\u00a0connections\u00a0between university faculty, staff, college student ambassadors, and high school students interested in education careers.<\/p>\n
Organized by\u00a0ESU\u2019s\u00a0College of Education, the Aspiring Educator Pathway Project (AEPP)\u00a0On-Campus Experience\u00a0featured\u00a0rotating\u00a0sessions\u00a0led\u00a0by\u00a0ESU teacher candidates, professional\u00a0mentors\u00a0and College of Education faculty.<\/p>\n
Students\u00a0from eight area school districts \u2013\u00a0Delaware Valley, East Stroudsburg, Hanover, Pleasant Valley,\u00a0Pocono Mountain,\u00a0Scranton,\u00a0Stroudsburg\u00a0and Wallenpaupack\u00a0\u2013\u00a0attended sessions\u00a0focused\u00a0on\u00a0belonging, balance,\u00a0creativity\u00a0and wellbeing, idea generation and growth mindset.<\/p>\n
After\u00a0one\u00a0team-building session\u00a0that saw\u00a0teams\u00a0square off in a\u00a0spirited\u00a0game of tug-of-war,\u00a0Scranton High School senior Paige Dougherty\u00a0recognized the activity was\u00a0about more than\u00a0friendly competition: the\u00a0cooperation\u00a0and communication skills\u00a0her team\u00a0used\u00a0to\u00a0pull the rope as a cohesive unit\u00a0were also essential to\u00a0the career she\u00a0plans to pursue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew that I wanted to be a teacher, but\u00a0today\u00a0really cemented it for me,\u201d\u00a0Dougherty said.<\/p>\n
Providing opportunities for high school students like Dougherty to\u00a0envision themselves as educators\u00a0through the AEPP is not only helpful to\u00a0them,\u00a0it\u00a0also addresses a critical need.<\/p>\n
In recent years, Pennsylvania has grappled with a\u00a0teacher shortage compounded by a\u00a0shrinking pipeline of new\u00a0educators, said Jay Kule, a longtime school counselor at East Stroudsburg Area School District and a returning participant in\u00a0the\u00a0AEPP On-Campus Experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s not a replenishment of teachers who are leaving the field of education, so this is really one way to attack that shortage head-on and get young people into the field of education,\u201d Kule said.<\/p>\n
Regina Brotherton, a\u00a0family and consumer sciences\u00a0teacher\u00a0at East Stroudsburg High School,\u00a0has been in the field for over 20 years. She said\u00a0programs like AEPP\u00a0that\u00a0expose\u00a0students to education careers early\u00a0can help them align their passions with career choices while building long-term support networks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have seen\u00a0that people\u00a0spend their first few years in college and then find out maybe this career isn\u2019t for them,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0nice to have something like this at the high school level that can help determine whether this is for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
For\u00a0students in\u00a0ESU\u2019s\u00a0College of Education\u00a0like\u00a0Connor Kiehl,\u00a0the\u00a0AEPP\u00a0On-Campus Experience\u00a0also\u00a0plays a pivotal role\u00a0in\u00a0their growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing a part of this project brings out more inclusivity,\u00a0more\u00a0diversity and\u00a0it\u00a0helps\u00a0me\u00a0get to know these students on a more personal level \u2013 where they come from, their backgrounds and\u00a0what motivates them,\u201d Kiehl said.<\/p>\n
A senior majoring in physical and health education, Kiehl\u00a0was invited to\u00a0participate\u00a0in the program by\u00a0one of his professors,\u00a0quickly realizing how\u00a0well it\u00a0complimented\u00a0his role as a student teacher, he said.<\/p>\n
Moreover, as\u00a0one of the ambassadors overseeing\u00a0the\u00a0tug-of-war games,\u00a0he\u00a0saw\u00a0how a simple\u00a0activity\u00a0can bring students out of their shell,\u00a0get them\u00a0engaged,\u00a0and\u00a0encourage them to\u00a0work together towards a goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so much that goes into education, and\u00a0being even\u00a0a small piece of education is the biggest blessing,\u00a0in my eyes,\u00a0that I\u2019ve ever had,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Experiences like those of Kiehl,\u00a0Dougherty\u00a0and other participants\u00a0signaled the program\u2019s\u00a0effectiveness\u00a0in\u00a0just\u00a0a short time\u00a0since its\u00a0inception,\u00a0said Brooke Langan, D.Ed., Dean of the College of Education.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we started this program, we had 50 students come to campus,\u201d Langan said. \u201cTo see over 200 students here now just two years later, it really speaks to the impact of education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Learn more about the\u00a0College of Education<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0AEPP<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hundreds of\u00a0high school\u00a0students visited ESU\u00a0on Nov. 12 for an immersive\u00a0learning\u00a0experience\u00a0designed to inspire and recruit future educators, address\u00a0teacher\u00a0shortages, and build\u00a0connections\u00a0between university faculty, staff, college student ambassadors, and high school students interested in education careers.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":24593,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[143,42,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-news-release","category-slider"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24591"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24591"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24596,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24591\/revisions\/24596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}