Northern Illinois University plays host to future teachers conference

DeKALB - High school students from DeKalb and Kane counties had a chance this week to explore options in education during a future teachers conference hosted by Northern Illinois University.

NIU’s College of Education, Waubonsee Community College and the Valley Education for Employment System program partnered together to run the event Wednesday.

VALEES is a regional delivery system established by the Illinois State Board of Education that serves 17 school districts, two area career vocational centers, one special education cooperative and Waubonsee Community College, according to its website. The career aid covers five counties and collaborates with the College of DuPage, Joliet Junior College and Kishwaukee College to promote career and technical education.

LaDonna Dawkins, a senior a West Aurora high school, said she’s taken education classes since her freshman year and that’s shaped what type of career she wants to pursue.

“I won’t say I always knew I wanted to be a teacher, but I will say I loved working with kids,” Dawkins said. “So I knew I wanted to do something in education.”

Wednesday’s event highlighted opportunities high school students might have across the region to pursue a career in education. The conference was funded by a grant through VALEES and a Scaling Education Pathways grant through Waubonsee Community College.

“A couple years ago we received a grant, Scaling Education Pathways in Illinois,” said Bob Cofield, director of school district partnerships at Waubonsee. “It is one that comes from a state agency funded through NIU. The purpose of this grant project is to streamline the curriculum pathway for students.”

NIU’s Dean of the College of Education, Laurie Ellish-Piper, addressed the students.

Lindsey Jensen, 2018 Illinois teacher of the year and early career development and student director for the Illinois Education Association, was the featured speaker for the event.

“Teachers, we have the power to bring people together. That is what we do,” Jensen said during her address. “It is our job to see within kids what they don’t see within themselves. ... If you take nothing else away from what I say today, I hope it is that the kids who need the most love are often going to ask you for it in the most unloving of ways.”

Students from 10 VALEES member schools participated in the conference, including Somonauk High School, Indian Valley Vocational Center and West Aurora High School.

Students dug into small groups through NIU’s campus for a portion of the conference, learning more about what future educator programs of study might be available to them through art, music, math and agriculture.

Thomas Adelman, a senior at Somonauk High School who graduates in less than a month, said he wants to pursue education. While he hasn’t picked a college yet, he’s considering both Waubonsee and NIU.

“Education has always found a way to filter itself into the picture,” he said.