Aspiring teachers flock to annual education career fair

Students looking for employment opportunities in PK-12 education packed into the Peters Hall for the Spring Education Career Fair.
More than 140 teaching candidates attended the career fair, which annual brings representatives to campus to meet and network with students who are interested in working in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade educational settings.

Bright. Spirited. Energetic. Willing to take on the challenges of the classroom.

Those are characteristics recruiter Rhonda Wright ‘93 was looking for in teaching candidates when she visited the Education Career Fair at Radford University on March 16.

“We’re definitely seeing that here today,” said Wright, a principal in Danville Public Schools.

Sponsored by Radford University’s Center for Career and Talent Development in collaboration with College of Education and Human Development, the annual career fair brings representatives to campus to meet and network with Radford students, alumni and other professionals who are interested in working in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade educational settings.

More than 140 teaching candidates attended the event. Representatives from 75 school districts came from all over Virginia, and a few from Alaska, North Carolina, Tennessee and Washington, D.C.

Students spent the morning making the rounds and meeting recruiters who were set up in booths in the Peters Hall gym. The students talked, smiled, shook hands and politely handed over resumes. Some filled out applications on mobile devices.

“This is an impressive group,” said Brent Long, an associate superintendent at North Carolina’s Alleghany County Schools. “And we need go-getters.”

Senior Jenna Mullins of Richlands is a go-getter and has the enthusiasm recruiters were looking for in a teaching candidate.

“I really love kids. They’re a hoot,” said Mullins, who wants to teach in an elementary school. “Kids that age have a real passion for learning.”

Rachel Winland, a senior from Fairfax, attended the fair. She wants to teach “any grade K-6.” But she loves first graders.

“They’re so excited to learn and they make me feel so passionate about teaching,” she said, waiting to talk with another recruiter. “They’re very involved learners, and they just want to explore the world around them.”

For Tanner Cayton, social studies is his “favorite thing in the world,” he said. One of his professors, Associate History Professor Kurt Gingrich, recognized that passion during Cayton’s sophomore year and suggested his student become a teacher.

Two years later, about to complete his senior year, Cayton was at the fair looking for positions where he could share his favorite thing with others. He’s willing to go anywhere. “All over Virginia; I’m looking everywhere,” he said. “I’m pretty open.”

Cayton said he had already interviewed with four school districts before the fair.

Recruiters always have a list of subject matter needs when they visit the fair. Mathematics is usually high on those lists. That’s the subject Mikal Moore wants to teach middle schoolers.

He loves math, but more so, he “loves to help people,” the senior from Tazewell said. It’s a trait his parents instilled in him. His mom is a nurse; his dad is a coach. “Working with people kind of rubbed off on me,” he said. “It really pushed me into being a teacher.”

Moore credits STEL’s faculty for pushing him the extra mile to prepare for the classroom and for days like this when he is meeting recruiters and looking for his first teaching position.

“The middle school program here at Radford is great,” he said. “Dr. [Betty] Dore has really made it click for me, and that is why I know teaching is what I really want to do.”

The skills and preparation the soon-to-be graduates have is one reason representatives from Patrick Country Public Schools attend the fair every year, said Andrea Cassell, an instructional coordinator for the school.

“We love the students we meet here,” she said. “They’re very prepared and excited about education. They know what they want to accomplish at this fair. They’ve done their homework. We have met some really strong candidates here today.”

That keeps Wright coming back to the fair, too, the Radford University alumna said. “We always have great experiences hiring teachers from Radford.”

 

Apr 4, 2018
Chad Osborne
540-831-7761
caosborne@radford.edu