Future Educators Sign Letters of Intent to Tackle Teacher Shortage

Throughout Rapides Parish, there is a shortage of one of the most impactful occupations throughout our society, teachers.

ABC 31 News Reporter Keisha Swafford has the story on how schools are inspiring students to become educators.

Graduating seniors at Bolton High signed their letters of intent to become future educators.

Kaitlyn Wilson says, “I want to become a teacher so that I can be advocate for other people to be able to become teachers and I want to help students realize that they are smart, and they are important.

Amari Gaines says, “There’s a teacher shortage with people who look like me. I felt like, growing up, there were always teachers that didn’t have a personal connection with their students whether all they did was lecture instead of getting to know their students.”

The Educators Rising Club has molded students into teachers.

Supervisor of Educators Rising Club Maegan Schopper says, “We are here to be the voices of education. We are here to say, ‘No, we need you. We need passionate, intelligent, and motivating individuals to lead our next generation of students.’”

This signing is a result of all the club’s hard work to reduce teacher shortage.

Jazmine Wilson says, “It feels good because I’ve always wanted to go to Jackson State. I told myself, if I wasn’t going to Jackson State, I’m not going nowhere else.”

The club offers students the opportunity to develop classroom skills and experiences.

Schopper says, “This is a grow your own program where we try to literally grow our own teachers. We want them to not only go to school here, grow up here, go to school here, but also come back and teach for us.”

Students earned 6 college credits through the Pre-Educator Pathway Program.

9 students from 4 Rapides Parish high schools will be signing a letter of intent to become educators for the state of Louisiana.