GROW YOUR OWN

SAMANTHA SWENSKI WAS THINKING ABOUT her future career even while she was in high school.

“I have wanted to become a teacher for many years, although I did explore other careers before deciding during sophomore year that teaching was right for me.”

Nancy Cee Her enjoyed tutoring her classmates who were struggling in mathematics. “I liked doing that. It was a good experience when they’d come back with a good score on their test, and I felt like I was part of that.”

That was why they both joined Greendale High School’s Educators Rising club. Both are now first-year students at UWM, taking general courses with the goal of moving into the School of Education.

The Educators Rising program, adapted at UWM as Grow Your Own, is providing high school students insights into careers in education.

The goal is to get more students interested in teaching at a younger age and increase the number of future teachers in the pipeline. “GYO is an exciting effort which began with colleagues at MATC and MPS. Our goal is to build and support interest in the teaching profession starting with high school students,” says Hope Longwell-Grice, associate dean of the School of Education. “Working with MPS teachers and staff is very important to create a tradition of teaching among all students, and especially among students of color in the district,” she adds. “The whole community will benefit if the teaching pool reflects the diversity of students in our schools.”

In 2020, the School of Education was working with Grow Your Own clubs at several Milwaukee Public Schools. Grow Your Own is a collaborative effort, under the M-cubed umbrella, involving MPS high schools, Milwaukee Area Technical College and UWM’s School of Education. It has been supported by a grant from Bader Philanthropies. A number of suburban school districts like Greendale have started or expressed interest in similar partnership programs with the SOE.

“I think it offers a lot of opportunities for students who are clearly interested in or even who are peripherally interested to engage what it means to be an educator,” said Amy Zientek, an award-winning science teacher at Greendale who started the

Educators Rising club at that school.

The program allows high school students to earn college credits by taking dual enrollment courses through their schools. For example, Angel Hessel, distinguished lecturer, has worked with high school teachers to launch the School of Education’s Introduction to Teaching course through some of the high school clubs. Plans are for MATC to offer general education courses in the fall of 2020.

The program also gives students the opportunity to visit UWM and learn more about the teaching profession and how to prepare for it. “At our school visit events we are able to show off our teacher candidates and faculty. We’ve planned a full day of activities in which high school students talk with some of our students, faculty and staff, tour the building, visit a class, and tour the campus,” said Rob Longwell-Grice, senior advisor in the Office of Student Services. “All of that and still the students are often most impressed by our Union and the lunch options that we provide them access to,” he said with a laugh.

“Our goal is to build and support interest in the teaching profession starting with high school students.”

For example, approximately 40 MPS students visited UWM Oct. 30, led by Mary Henry, the coordinator of the MPS program. They had a chance to meet with Dean Alan Shoho, Assistant Dean Jeremy Page and Rob Longwell-Grice. They also chatted with a panel of advisors and current students and toured the campus. In February another group came from Sheboygan to learn more about teaching and tour the campus. A virtual visit was held in April with a group of high school students from New Berlin. Jessica Santiago, the New Berlin coordinator, is a graduate of UWM’s School of Education. “I’m always impressed to see the accomplishments of our alums,” said Dean Shoho. “Having Jessica bring new students into our programs is a pattern we hope to repeat often.”

Swenski’s career goal is to teach kindergarten or first grade. The program has helped her take key first steps toward that career, she said. “The Educators Rising program provided me with new tools and information that helped me decide what age group I want to teach, how to create a lesson plan, and I gained experience in classrooms, learning behavioral management, and so on.”

Her, who plans to minor in mathematics, enjoyed learning about lesson planning and understanding how education works through the club. She also heard about paperwork and meetings that are a routine part of school from a visiting administrator.

Teaching three lessons during her final semester in the program was challenging, she said. Her students were sixth graders, and she preferred third graders, but she learned from the experience.

“I was really worried they’d be like how I remembered sixth graders being –‘I don’t care. I don’t want to listen to you,’ but my idea was wrong. They were very open and welcoming and warm. I had some special education students in the class, and that was a good experience for me. It was good to see education was the right career path for me.”

Top: Dean Alan Shoho (center), Senior Advisor Rob LongwellGrice (left) and Assistant Dean Jeremy Page answer questions from MPS students. 2nd: Emilee Schultz, then an advisor in SOE, explains to MPS students the requirements for becoming a certified teacher. 3rd: Students from Sheboygan South listen to a presentation. Bottom: Rob Longwel-Grice talks with students from Sheboygan South about UWM's program.