Recruitment Day '08 - and the Committee Behind It

By Austin Kestler (freshman)
Photo by Robyn McLawhorn (junior)

Recruitment Day 2008 for Teaching Fellows was a huge success. We had about 70 Regional finalist show up to explore what are program has to offer. Dr. Corbin greeted our prospects. Provost Marilyn Sheerer also attend to welcome our guests. After splitting the finalists up into their majors, advisers from each major talked with them in the smaller groups.
Then came the fun part: the question and answer panel that separated the parents from the students to ask real questions about college. Then, ECU treated them to a catered lunch followed by Joann Norris, head of the Teaching Fellows program across North Carolina, speaking with the future Fellows about what it is to be a Teaching Fellow. The day was quite a success with an overwhelming return of people moving ECU up from lower ranks on their top 5 school list to #1.

The Recruitment Committee does a lot for the ECU program. In November, they hold an Interview Skills Day a week or two before the Local Interviews. When the regional finalist lists come out, they stuff envelopes full of confetti, a letter of congratulations for making it to the regional round, and an invitation to the Recruitment Day. Also, the week before the Recruitment Day, they hold phone banks, where they call and issue congratulations, ask if they have any questions, and extend another invitation to the Recruitment Day. Then they take care of Recruitment Day. They also hold the regional interviews at East Carolina, so the members will help out with registration, talking with the students before and after their interviews, leading them to the rooms where they will be interviewed.

Junior Tutoring

By Kristen Hales (junior)

My experience with Junior Tutoring has been one of the most rewarding things I’ve done during my college years. Every day I find myself going to get my car for tutoring, I end up smiling, because I enjoy seeing the kids that I get to help. The first day of tutoring, they were quiet and shy, but as they days have gone on they’ve blossomed!

I know their names, which teams they play on, and of course, the subjects they need help with the most. I was given the opportunity to work with a program called AVID, which takes at risk students with college potential and gives them allotted study and homework time so they don’t fall behind in their work. Of course, being ninth graders, they love to goof off, but when they need to they get the job done!

I’ve tutored Spanish, Algebra, English, and occasionally someone will have a History question, but even if I don’t get to tutor exactly in my study area, this experience is one that I wouldn’t give up for the world.

A Discovery: Music Composition

by Nieves Villasenor (freshman)

Throughout life we go through many stages where we think we know what we want to do with our lives. As a Teaching Fellow, all of us have decided that that very thing is teaching. For me, it's music, and I had always figured since I had received the scholarship, that teaching music is the only thing that I would want to do. While being at ECU, meeting new people, exploring new concepts, and getting a look at what more there is to offer, I have seen my opportunities expand.

Now, nothing has changed with me wanting to be a teacher. It's been my dream since high school to create and manage a band program at a high school. It's very different being a music educator, its much like being a coach. Music programs are visible across regions, and many times, much like sports teams, serve as representatives as a school. Recently; however, I have discovered a new realm of music that I believe would help me to be a better educator and that is music composition.

I have written music ever since the summer of 2005 when I had my first concert piece, "To Challenge the Earth and Skies," premiered in front of an audience of hundreds in Jones Auditorium at Meredith College. The North Carolina Governor's School students of that year did a great job with it, and even some of my fellow Teaching Fellows remember me because of it. At the time until now, it had always been a hobby of mine. As I matured as a musician and broadened my horizons of what kinds of music exist, I explored and experimented with varieties of styles.

My tenure so far at East Carolina has been most influential in my thought of possibly double majoring in music composition. I've met great people like Dr. Jacobs, Brandon Martel, Brian Bonsteel, Jamie Kofink, Kimberly West, Nathan Walker, and many people who have inspired me to take that path as well as a music composer. Their praise and criticisms have helped me to discover that I might have a possible future in this field as well. By coupling my abilities as an educator and my creativity as a writer, I believe that both these strengths will make me a better prepared educator.

In the future, I hope to premiere yet another piece, this time to an audience of my peers at East Carolina University. With the superb School of Music available to me, new experiences ahead of me, and a numerous amounts of interested ears, I believe I will only grow as a musician.

An Undecided Teacher

By Will Mercep (freshman)

So you want to be a teacher. Well, as you can see from this page, Teaching Fellows is a great way to reach that goal while getting a top notch education. Now, you’ve reached the stage where you know you want to teach, and you know that you want to be a Teaching Fellow. What’s your major? In the College of Education there are many different majors and concentrations. What to do, what to do?

Luckily, you don’t have to decide right this second. Your first year in college contains mostly general classes that everyone has to take. While you’re here you will have many chances to learn more about each department. Freshman Teaching Fellows at ECU have an event in which they get to meet the advisers. The advisers represent the different majors offered in education. They are more than egger to get extra people to join their field. However, you should make the decision on your major as soon as you can. Different majors have different classes you have to take in order to be admitted. By the end of your freshman year you should have a pretty good idea of what you want to do. If you don’t have a major declared in time, you risk not being able to have the classes needed to enter the major you choose, and you could possibly end up taking summer classes just to catch up. The biggest point is that coming into Teaching Fellows with an undecided major is okay. Find something that you have a passion to teach and have fun doing it.