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‘No Grander Challenge’
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION’S FIRST ‘PINNING CEREMONY’ CELEBRATES STUDENTS HEADING INTO LOCAL CLASSROOMS
BY LIAM FARRELL
As teachers and school administrators across America work to recover from the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic and its lingering stress and staff shortages, College of Education students are stepping into the classroom with a definite sense of mission.
The college held a new ceremony on October 11 for 222 undergraduate and graduate students who started their yearlong internships at local schools this fall. Each attendee received a pin with the college’s name and logo, in the same spirit of events elsewhere for nursing students.
“There is no grander challenge than ensuring every child … has access to high-quality education,” said Senior Vice President and Provost Jennifer King Rice, who spearheaded the ceremony’s creation while dean of the College of Education. “That starts with access to high-quality and diverse educators.”
Students will be working in Anne Arundel, Howard, Montgomery and Prince George’s county schools in elementary, middle and secondary education, as well as early education and early special education. Once they complete the program, they will be eligible for initial teacher certification in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., as well as U.S. territories.
Rachael Termini, a senior from Germantown, Md., is interning at High Point High School in Beltsville. While aware of the macro-level conversations taking place in American education, she said her mission as a teacher will focus on how she can help the students sitting in front of her.
“I was always one of those students who really loved being in school,” she said. “You need to go into it with a positive mindset about all the change you can create.”
She added that the pinning ceremony was also a good way to show how teachers provide “essential services” just like medical professionals. “It’s nice to have that acknowledgement, that we are really trying to contribute something good to society.” + READ MORE AT go.umd.edu/pinning
