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Future teachers Seek to Be Sources of Inspiration, Provide Deeper Connection to Students
By Andrew Chiappazzi
Investigative reporting from education publications like Chalkbeat, analysis from advocacy groups like Teach Plus, and research conducted by organizations like Penn State University’s College of Education have all sounded the alarm on a nationwide teacher shortage. Now, school districts and organizations throughout the state are working to find sustainable solutions.
The Teacher Academy at Gateway High School is one of the programs trying to usher in more students into education careers. Such programs introduce the foundational concepts of being teachers and allows high school students to earn free college credits.
A sense of peace and belonging regularly envelopes Abigail Fitzgerald as she steps inside a classroom each morning. School has been such a comfort for her over the years that as a young child she often sought to replicate it at home, only instead of being the student, she’d pretend she was the teacher.
“I had desks in my kitchen. I had a little chalkboard,” she recalled with a wistful smile. She also considered being a marine biologist, but said her “heart just came back to teaching.”
Now a senior at Steel Valley High School, Fitzgerald is on her way to living out that dream. Next fall, she will be majoring in Early Childhood Education with a dual certification in Special Education at a college to be determined. She has been inspired by teachers like Ms. Lori Mehalik, a kindergarten teacher at Steel Valley’s Park Elementary who had Fitzgerald in class and now serves as a mentor. She’s also been inspired by three aunts who work in education, including one who serves as a special education teacher.
“They’ve been such a great influence,” she said. “Some of them have said that I might need an English as a Second Language [certification], so I’m looking into that. They keep giving me information that I just keep looking into.”
Meet the Next Generation of Teachers
Fitzgerald is part of the next generation of educators, mentored by compassionate teachers and now driven to inspire children in their own classrooms. Their paths to becoming teachers will be as varied as their backgrounds, but they are connected by a feeling that they have been called to carry on the inspiration and encouragement of the teachers who inspired them.
Like Fitzgerald, Woodland Hills High School senior Leila Nestico has a family connection to teaching, as both of her parents teach in the Woodland Hills School District. Nestico will pursue Art Education at Slippery Rock University with the goal of becoming an elementary art teacher. But even with an educational environment at home, teaching wasn’t a given for Nestico.
“This is just something that I figured out on my own in the last year or so,” she said. “They’ve been telling me pros and cons and helping me weigh my options.” Art has always been her passion. Her art teachers at Woodland Hills helped to nurture that passion, especially in elementary school. That experience stuck as a driving force behind her decision to become an educator.
“Being taught that art is something that I can do well and being taught how to do different things in art from a young age has inspired me to continue doing it,” Nestico said. “I think it’s important to teach the younger kids that you can do this and you can enjoy it.”
There is an especially dire need for teachers of color. Even students in diverse districts often have predominantly white teachers as instructors. This disparity is a driving force for some future teachers who hope to be an inspiration to students with similar backgrounds as their own.
Rhonda Threet, Ph.D., shared her insights as Gateway School District’s Equity & Inclusion Coordinator regarding the variables that lead to the lack of diversity in the field of teaching. “Using a historical lens—if you think about when desegregation happened—there were a lot of teachers of color at one time, especially down south. When schools were desegregated, a lot of the Black teachers lost their jobs,” Dr. Threet said. “So even though the schools became desegregated, the teacher workforce in a way became segregated. It became predominantly white at the time. From then on—as the years have progressed —it’s stayed that way. It’s become the norm.”
“I only had one Black woman teacher when I was kid, and I literally called her grandma.” Gateway senior Adrienne Woods said.
“I’ve only had two African American teachers from middle school to high school,” Gateway senior Dazyier Bates added. “I think that’s definitely pushed me to want to be in this profession, because a lot of students don’t have teachers who look like them. It definitely changes the dynamic of things.”
The rising costs of higher education is a consideration for many aspiring educators. Woodland Hills senior Jordan Parsons envisions a career in school administration as a building principal or superintendent. He’ll be one of the few members of his family to attend college, but the financial burden of attending Duquesne University, his dream school, may require a stop at CCAC or a lessexpensive state school first. Still, he’s undeterred, and sees a daily inspiration in the form of Woodland Hills High School principals Dr. Shelly Manns and Mr. Berchman Grinage.
“Dr. Manns and Mr. Grinage they’re always smiling and I know they have a hard job, but it’s like it never really seems to affect them,” Parsons said. “I’ve always felt a sort of calling to pursue helping people, especially since I never really had many people tell me how important education was or who were really trying to push me. I just want to push other kids who probably were put in the same situation as me.”
“We’ve talked a lot about the teacher shortage, and how much they need us— not just going into the field but staying in the field,” Gateway senior Ashlee Young said. She added that experience as students during the pandemic could be valuable to future teachers. “If we have more younger teachers who are fresh out of what we’ve dealt with, they can better understand what’s going on, and the trends that we’re talking about and dealing with.”
In addition to the global pandemic, the next generation of teachers has endured the specter of school shootings, and an undercurrent of toxicity on social media. They are driven to break through and provide inspiration and sense of belonging to the students who will come after them.
“I want to give these kids a safe place. I want them to be able to come to me and for them to trust me. I want to be their rock whenever they need me. I want to be the person who makes them smile on a bad day,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m going to be there for them, and I’m going to help them just how Ms. Mehalik has helped me from kindergarten to my senior year.”
