McNeese students meet with recruiters during fair
McNeese students meet face to face with school district recruiters on Tuesday at the School District Recruitment Fair.
{{tncms-inline alignment=”left” content=”<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>&lsquo;This way we can see the faces of the people who say they will support us as new teachers. We have a face to hold accountable.&rsquo;</strong></span></p> <p class="p2"><strong>Lindsay Vaughan</strong></p> <p class="p4">McNeese student</p>” id=”386d6708-34d8-46df-b383-05a2fee1998c” style-type=”quote” title=”Pull Quote” type=”relcontent”}}
McNeese State University seniors had the chance to meet with nearly 50 recruiters during the School District Recruitment Fair on Tuesday.
The event, hosted by the university’s education department and the Career and Student Development Center, brought in recruiters from across Louisiana and Texas. Faye White, McNeese director of student teaching, said the fair’s two main goals were to expose students to a professional interview process and help them secure a job with a school district.
Kyra Louvierre said the education department prepared her for the recruitment fair from the very beginning of her studies. White said “job preparation is embedded into every course,” and students are taught “to sell the profession and have personal confidence in their interviews.”
Lindsay Vaughan said she plans to move to the Lafayette area upon graduation. She said she was “itching” to contact school districts outside the local area, but instead decided to wait for the face-to-face introductions the recruitment fair offers.
White explained that the districts and students are mutually dependent upon each other. National teacher shortages and fewer education graduates make events like this essential to school district success, she said.
White added that the economic boom of industry in Southwest Louisiana has led many students to overlook teaching careers.
Alice Floros, with the Louisiana Association of Education, attributed the teacher shortage to increased workload with state testing and accountability systems. “Many students are seeing it’s more and more work but less and less reward,” she said.
Vaughan recognized some of these trends in her classroom observations and her student teaching experience.
“I know it can be hard, but with the right support it gets easier,” she said.
The reality of such difficulties is why events like the recruitment fair are so important, said senior Hannah Berryhill.
“This way we can see the faces of the people who say they will support us as new teachers,” she said. “We have a face to hold accountable.”
‘This way we can see the faces of the people who say they will support us as new teachers. We have a face to hold accountable.’
Lindsay Vaughan
McNeese student