ISU director of recruitment and retention, Kelli Appel expressed how the university planned the conference hoping to encourage students to become teachers, and those who have already become educators, to celebrate the profession of teaching. For the past eight years, future and present teachers have traveled to ISU to enjoy the experiences and activities offered through the future teacher conference.
Illinois State alumni and current teacher, Jordan Oliva, stated that attending the event has become a tradition for her for the past few years, and emphasizes exposing the kids to what the education program at ISU has to offer. For many students, attending the conference was their favorite part of the day.
Overall, the impact of the conference was the best part. High school senior, Amerie Paredes, said she learned all about the different clubs and student engagement related to the education program that she didn’t know about before. Finding out the different opportunities on campus even made her apply to the university the same day.
Organizers say that around 1,600 students were registered for the future teachers conference.