Future educators participate in Teachers of Promise

Six Radford University education majors attended the 12th Annual Teachers of Promise Institute March 20-21 in Richmond.

Teachers of Promise are student interns who meet high academic standards, have strong leadership and communication skills and excel in student teaching.

This year's Radford University participants were Cole Dutton, Caitlin Owens, Brittany Spencer, Patrick Sullivan, Catlin Suttle and Anne Marie Warren.

The Teachers of Promise Institute, held this year on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University, annually brings together exceptional students from Virginia's college and university schools of education and dozens of master educators for a two-day celebration and professional development event. This year, 97 students from 19 colleges and universities comprise the newest Teachers of Promise class.

Each year, Radford's College of Education and Human Development selects for the institute seniors and graduate students who exhibit a strong commitment to the teaching profession and exemplify traits necessary for a career in public education.

Radford University students were selected from the academic areas of physical and health education within the Department of Health and Human Performance and the early childhood education, elementary education, middle education, secondary education and special education programs in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership (STEL).

"I was more than honored to be chosen as one of the representatives from Radford," said Patrick Sullivan, a health and physical education major from Axton. "I feel it was worthwhile to me because it raised my confidence for teaching and brought it to a whole new level."

teachers-of-Promise

Six Radford students participated in the 2015 Teachers of Promise Institute. Front row: (from left) Caitlin Owens, Brittany Spencer and Anne Marie Warren. Back row: (from left) Patrick Sullivan, Cole Dutton and Catlin Suttle.

The Teachers of Promise Institute kicks off with a gala celebration, during which attendees are presented with gold lapel pins recognizing their potential as prospective teachers.

In addition, each honoree receives a handwritten note from a Virginia K-12 student, which congratulates and thanks the honoree for choosing to enter the teaching profession.

On day two, honorees attended a conference-style series of general and concurrent workshop sessions and keynote addresses designed and presented by a team of more than 30 award-winning master educators from across the United States.

"After being treated to such an amazing weekend, I now have the confidence of being a Teacher of Promise, and I will carry the information I obtained at the institute with me throughout my entire career," said Dutton, a middle-school education major from Chilhowie. "I have never been this excited to teach, and I could not be more thankful to be named a 2015 Teacher of Promise."

Anne Marie Warren, who is pursuing a master's with a concentration of early childhood education, said she hopes to attend the institute in a different capacity in the future. "I want to be back at the Teachers of Promise Institute as one of the mentors in the future," said the Alexandria native, who earned a bachelor's degree in early childhood/early childhood special education in 2014. "I will know then that I have achieved all I have set out to be."

Apr 29, 2015