Parker Bergfeld, a rising senior at Pattonville High School, explains her poster presentation to Hannah Rose, a graduate assistant and adjunct instructor at UMSL, on Friday morning at the Ed Collabitat. The presentation was part of a closing ceremony for UMSL’s fourth Future Teacher Leadership Academy. (Photos by Derik Holtmann)
White boards formed a spacious half circle in the Ed Collabitat at the University of Missouri–St. Louis Friday morning.
Each board contained a poster presentation crafted by high school students participating in the College of Education’s Future Teacher Leadership Academy. The projects were as unique as the students who created them. Some were adorned with colorful, hand-stenciled graphics such as a rising sun, while another used multicolored construction paper to form a balloon motif.
Aside from being eye-catching, the posters included the students’ future education goals and insights about learning science as well as cultural consciousness in the classroom. Parents, friends and UMSL faculty and staff members meandered from white board to white board, taking in the displays and asking students about their projects.
The gallery walk was part of a closing ceremony for UMSL’s fourth Future Teacher Leadership Academy. The event celebrated the hard work and dedication of the students who participated in the free, two-week program, which ran from June 9-20.
The FTLA is a joint effort between the College of Education and the UMSL Office of Precollegiate Student Services, and it’s designed to encourage high school students in the St. Louis region and beyond to envision careers in education.
Nailah Williams, a rising junior at Parkway Central High School, intends to become a tenured professor of civil engineering in the future.
“We want to be that university targeting future educators,” said Chanua Ross, the director of Program Operations in the Department of Professional Learning and Innovation. “We also want to have them on campus, so they could get a feel for college. We wanted to motivate them even more to pursue that next level. This is what it will take to bring this dream to fruition, and this is a place where we can help you do that.”
Like previous years, this summer’s cohort featured a broad socioeconomic and geographic spectrum, including 10 high school students and recent graduates from private and public schools primarily in the St. Louis region. Ross noted one participant came from Pacific, Missouri, more than 30 miles southwest of St. Louis.
“To see the word of the academy spread like that this year was something that I want to highlight,” Ross said. “I thought that was pretty great because we’re seeing shortages of teachers right now across Missouri. So, to see them coming from all over, districts sending their future educators, was exactly what we wanted to see.”
The idea for the academy grew from a monthly meeting on recruitment and retention between Ross and College of Education administrators, which led to brainstorming how to bring high school students to campus beyond traditional open houses. Ross suggested a summer program focused on developing future educators. The idea was met with enthusiasm, and the group worked hard to bring the inaugural FTLA class to campus in 2022.
Ross explained that the program is built around a dual-enrollment course, “Tch Ed 2000: Becoming a Professional Educator,” which students attended for an hour and half at the beginning of each day. The one-credit class touches on current education practices, career paths and programs offered by the College of Education.
During the second half of every day, students engaged in a variety of activities to deepen their understanding of the college experience and the education profession. They toured campus and also heard from guest speakers, including academic advisors and education faculty members.
The FTLA also offers a second cohort for students who had previously completed the program. In the second year, students take another dual-enrollment course for college credit, “Tch ED 1001: Early Clinical Experience: Community Agency.” This year, Christian Lovelace, a rising senior at Westminster Christian Academy, was the sole returning student. Lovelace had the opportunity to work with the Office of Inclusive Postsecondary Education’s Succeed Program as a volunteer counselor during a summer camp.
Pearl Truong, a rising senior, was encouraged by one of her teachers at Pattonville High School to attend the Future Teacher Leadership Academy.
“The second year, you get more hands-on experience with the Succeed camp,” Lovelace said. “You get to spend a week actually getting experience with individuals with disabilities and really getting to step into what a full-on teacher role is.”
Lovelace had to think on his feet during the camp and learned the value of having a variety of tools to engage with campers.
“The key is to really understand how to approach a certain situation correctly and how to approach a different type of person than yourself,” he said. “Everyone’s different, and every student is not the same. So, this program really cracks into, ‘How do you approach one type of student versus another?’”
Yadira Calmo, a Pattonville High School graduate, and Pearl Truong and Parker Bergfeld, rising seniors at Pattonville, each knew from a young age that they wanted to work in education. The three particularly enjoyed a presentation from Jacob Steiss, a postdoctoral research fellow at UMSL, whose work focuses on improving teacher practice and student learning.
Bergfeld said she learned the importance of acknowledging her own biases and experiences and supporting different perspectives in the classroom.
“That’s something that some people lack nowadays,” she said. “You really have to tune into that more to understand the environment of the classroom that you’re going to create.”
Across the room from the Pattonville trio, Nailah Williams, a rising junior at Parkway Central High School, fielded questions about her poster presentation like a pro. When asked about her goals as a future educator, Williams laid out an ambitious path forward.
“I would like to become a tenured professor of civil engineering because civil engineering has always been a passion of mine,” she said. “After this program, I’ve been more inclined to pursue a career in teaching. I’d like to tie in the two things in my future. For my second goal, I would like to leave a lasting impact on my students that will instill a love for learning and create well-rounded individuals. I would like to do that because it is my way to change lives.”
Lovelace emphatically recommends the program to anyone curious about a career in education.
“Absolutely, yes, especially students who are interested in studying the world of education and what it means to be an educator in our society today,” he said. “I really, really suggest this to anybody who’s interested in becoming a teacher.
