Illinois State University hosted an event Monday evening, which had the goal of addressing Illinois’ ongoing teacher shortage.
This event, titled ‘We See The Teacher In You’, is part of the Grow Your Own Illinois initiative, which is a statewide effort to address the ongoing teacher shortage, especially in special education classrooms.
Herman Reeves III is with Grow Your Own Teacher Illinois, the group which brought the event to campus. “The goal of our work is to attack the teacher shortage in Illinois to support these 22 institutions to bring more folks into their license programs and increase the number of teachers in Illinois.”
Organizers say that there are an array of financial resources that are available to help students pursue a career in teaching. Aid ranging from state grants, all the way to scholarships right here at Illinois State.
“We also have many scholarships through the College of Education. We award nearly a million dollars per year to teacher education majors,” says Kelli Appel with Illinois State’s College of Education.
These grants were made possible by alumni donors, who want to help push future teachers towards their careers.
Events like ‘We See The Teacher In You’ are hosted to show students that becoming a teacher is not only possible, but supported.
For more information and ways you can get involved, visit www.growyourownteachers.org.