The Department of Education and Counseling Services held a Student-Teacher Fair on Oct. 1l in the Frey Conference Suite to connect area schools to possible student teachers, students looking for a teaching position in the near future and students who will be completing their practicum experience next semester. 

The Student-Teacher Fair occurs once a semester. This time, WSC welcomed 41 school districts from across the state.  

Brook Jech, director of the Education and Counseling Services Department, said she began hosting this fair to connect students with schools and their administrators, while giving the students an opportunity to think of their school placements with more purpose.  

“A lot of times our students pick their placement options based on location,” Jech said. “We want them to think above and beyond just location, and talk with schools, ask questions about the schools, so that they can make their choices on other things outside of location.”  

Christian Legler, WSC professor in the education department and academic coordinator for clinal practice, said the fair also introduces students to schools and districts outside of their comfort zone, which is ideal for students selecting a school for their practicum experience.  

“We’d like students, during these practicum placements, to consider some schools with different student populations, schools of different sizes, so that they have some experience in some different types of schools,” Legler said.  

The fair included public schools as well as parochial schools from the area. 

With a nationwide shortage of teachers, Legler said schools are actively looking for ways to connect with candidates to hire in their systems.  

“The clinical practice students have an hour to go through the fair to look for teaching positions,” Legler said. “So, it’s not only for placements, but it’s also for networking and trying to get employment upon graduation.” 

Because of the shortage, Legler said schools are also getting competitive when it comes to finding student teachers. Some districts are paying or providing a stipend to their student teachers, while others may provide housing.  

“We kind of saw the shortage coming years ago,” Jech said. “Now that the shortage is here, it has really fueled the fire to get that stuff going.”  

The Student-Teacher Fair allows schools to talk to prospective teachers about what benefits their school is willing to provide.  

 Jech said the fair greatly boosts the confidence of the students as they prepare to enter the field.  

“It’s really fun to watch the students come in really scared at first, when they haven’t been to it before,” Jech said. “But by the time they come out of there they look so much more confident because they realized that administrators are ‘just like me’, they’re people. I think it will help them when they go to interview and realize that they may be administrators, but they were in these kids’ footsteps at one point in their careers.” 

The Student-Teacher Fair brings in about 150 students each session, along with many of the student teachers that will be graduating that semester.  

“We’re thankful for our K-12 school partners for being a part of an event like this,” Legler said.  

Jech agrees. 

“We’re so appreciative of our partnerships with them and their willingness to host our students,” Jech said.