ASU offers program to encourage students to become teachers of the future
Nov 15, 2016, 5:46 AM
(AP Photo/Alan Diaz)
(AP Photo/Alan Diaz)
QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. — Arizona State University is working with Valley high schools to encourage students to pursue a career in education.
“Aim 2 Teach is a structured program offered by ASU with a goal to create a teacher pipeline. It’s to get kids to go into education and possibly in the future, come back and teach at the school that they graduated from,” said Tracy Petersen, the early childhood education teacher at Queen Creek High School. “It is supported through ASU workshops and financial aid.”
As many as 150 Queen Creek students are involved in the program.
“ASU has this program for all schools,” said Petersen. “They came to Queen Creek and reached out to us to see if we would become a part of it. They provide workshops and campus visits for students to see what college life is. They explain all of the programs they would need to become a teacher.”
Petersen tells her students that being a teacher is worth it, especially when her students realize that what she’s teaching them will affect them in their daily lives.
“They light up. They understand. And that’s why, for me personally, I became a teacher. That’s what I try to express to my students and those kids who are interested in becoming a teacher,” she said.
Petersen said that there’s a teacher shortage in Arizona, and schools hope that programs like this one will increase the number of qualified applicants to fill teaching positions in the future.
