PITTSBURG, Kan. — On Monday afternoon, five Pittsburg High School students signed on to pursue degrees in the education field. Four of the five students will be attending Pittsburg State University.
During the signing ceremony, Family and Consumer Science Teacher Krystal Long said that four of the students completed the teacher training pathway, and all five interned in local schools.
For the teacher training pathway, the students learn about lesson planning, the diverse needs of learners, classroom management, professionalism and other aspects of education. They are also tasked with career investigation, which allows them to look into other jobs in education besides teachers.
Ava Freimiller, who will be attending PSU, said she had no idea what she wanted to do after high school. But after taking the teacher training pathway classes, she realized she wanted to be a teacher.
“It helped me find what I wanted to do with my future,” Freimiller said. “I had no idea. But then I took some more classes and I realized that’s what I wanted to do.”
Freimiller will also graduate with her associates degree from Labette Community College.
While some of the students were unsure about their path, Lexis Barr, who will pursue science education at PSU, said she always knew she wanted to be a teacher.
“It really helped what grade I wanted to teach,” Barr said. “It really narrowed it down.”
This was the second year that a special signing ceremony was held for students who are going on to be teachers.
“I think it's important to recognize those kids put in a lot of work, especially in that internship level class, where they're in the classroom every day, helping out teachers, doing what they can, working one on one or in small groups of kids,” Long said. “And I also think it's important to recognize and celebrate kids that want to go into teaching, because I think sometimes we only hear the bad and the negative about teaching, and that can kind of turn kids off to it, but I think that it's good to celebrate it as well.”
This reporting is made possible, in part, by the Support Local Journalism Project Fund. Learn more at: southeastkansas.org/Localnews.
