Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s back to school I go this week. I’m looking forward to getting back to the classroom. I’ve missed the students and my colleagues. Mostly, I’ve missed TEACHING!!! Where have I been? On sabbatical.

The goal of my sabbatical was to visit with local high schools and see if they would be interested in starting an Educators Rising Club. Club members would consist of high school students, grades 9 – 12, who might be interested in becoming a teacher.

The idea came to me after a July Minnesota Rural Education Board meeting when a superintendent from a quite large school district shared that one senior in his high school was interested in teaching.

ONE.

That broke my heart. Something needs to happen to get high school students interested in the grand profession of teaching. We must grow this profession!!

Now that the semester is over, I can honestly say I’m a little disappointed in the outcome of my sabbatical results. After contacting several area schools, only ONE agreed to start up the Educators Rising Club.

ONE.

While the other schools had acceptable reasons for not starting this club, I was still disappointed.

I had false hopes. I believed all schools would be knocking down the doors to begin this club. I had unrealistic expectations.

Thank you to Pipestone Area Schools (PAS) for being willing to take on this risk.  Thank you to the PAS high school principal, Mr. Cory Strasser, who allowed me to visit with each grade level individually to poll their interests. Thank you to the two PAS teachers, Mrs. Wajer and Mrs. Danks, who agreed to be the co-advisors. And, thank you to the PAS high school students who have faithfully shown up for all the meetings.

Even though my sabbatical is officially done and the work was definitely worth it, I WILL NOT give up on the Educators Rising mission.  Minnesota is one state that does NOT have a state wide coordinator…YET!  So, let me ask you…any school district interested? Any students/teachers/administrators interested? I’d be happy to travel to your school and visit with you about it. 😊👍

SMSU, thank you for the sabbatical opportunity. Pipestone Area Schools, thank you for taking on this challenge. Teacher candidates, thank you for your patience as I get back into the swing of things. 😃

Stay Calm and Start an Educators Rising Club…PLEASE!
Profs Dr. Wendy. & Dr. V.