Cove future educators compete at state contest this weekend

Special to Leader-Press 

High school students who hope to fill Texas’ classroom teacher shortage in the future converge in Allen today with the hopes of advancing with their careers. 
The Copperas Cove High School Chapter of the Texas Association of Future Educators, a co-curricular organization that gives students the opportunity to explore education and training professions, competed at the annual Region 12 conference on February 23 against other schools from throughout Central Texas including Belton, Robinson, Killeen Career Center, Harker Heights and Marlin, said Theresa Morgan, CCHS TAFE Advisor.
“This is a great opportunity for students to learn about teaching and network with other students entering this profession. They get to visit colleges and sample what it is like to be a teacher in the classroom,” Morgan said.
The more than 100 students competed in more than 20 different contests including storybook creation, lesson plans, portfolios, research initiatives, and speech contests.   
Students who rank first or second place in each competition advance to the state contest held in Allen this weekend. CCHS TAFE members Lydia Konz and Samantha Bowers are advancing to the state contest in the category of Ethical Dilemma Competition and Children’s Literature K-3.
“Ethics is a huge part of careers in education,” Bowers said. “These contests let us research and explore the example the state provided and show how ethics plays a role in the decisions staff make working with special education students.”   
CCHS TAFE members Jeala Rice and Timothy Johnson compete at the state level with their project, Interactive Bulletin Board for secondary education.
“We chose to make our board for high school students,” Johnson said. “The activity on our board focuses on using a fun dart game to teach Algebra 1 skills. Making learning fun is our goal.”    
The final due of students advancing to the state competition is Colin Ross and Isabelle Avilla who tackled the large project of Professional Development Training.
“Our event was created to teach a group of teachers about items we, as teens, think they need to know more about,” Ross said. “Our professional development class is about how stress outside of school affects students in the classroom and teachers need to be aware of what is happening in their students’ lives.”   
At the state contest, there are 35 competitive events with 18 of those advancing to the national competition for those who place in the top five. The national contest, the Educators Rising National Conference, is held in Dallas June 22-25.