By Ryan Clancy | College of Education News
The NC State College of Education’s Passport to Success scholars were honored for their accomplishments at the program’s culminating ceremony April 26.
Students who join the NC State College of Education’s Passport to Success program engage in learning experiences outside of the classroom to better prepare to make an impact once they enter their own classrooms as teachers.
Each Passport to Success scholar must engage in activities that fall into four separate categories — global knowledge, cross-cultural skills, community engagement and professional development.
In advance of the ceremony, the students recorded presentations where they recapped the activities they completed, described lessons they learned and set out action plans they hope to pursue when they enter the classroom.
Learn about a few takeaways from each scholars’ experience, and watch their full presentations, below.
Catherine Dean ’23
For Catherine Dean, a junior elementary education major, Passport to Success was an opportunity to step out of her comfort zone and expand her horizons by engaging in a variety of different activities.
Dean attended a virtual panel led by women who worked in K-12 administration, served on the leadership team for the NC State chapter of Musical Empowerment, and volunteered weekly at the Mexico consulate in Raleigh, where she read with young students.
“I’m glad for the encouragement that the Passport program gave me to break my routine every now and then and pursue other interests outside of my specific major,” Dean said. “It also taught me to be a more well-rounded person, not just proficient in one area, but in many areas and, as a future teacher, I feel like that’s a very essential component to building an effective and inclusive classroom and even a challenging classroom.”
Her experiences through Passport to Success also inspired her to lead a read-a-loud of the book My Language, Your Language in the classroom during her field experience, in order to help her students gain global knowledge and broaden their horizons, too.
This is an excerpt from an article published by the College of Education. Read the full article »