Back from Break!

We took a couple weeks off for Spring Break here at the ECU TF/MS blog, but we'll be bringing you updates from our program every week for the rest of the semester and into the summer. Today we have a double-header of topics completely unrelated to each other but both relevant to this week: first, a look at the future of our program from future (2008-2009) Communications Committee Co-Chair Will Mercep, and then some ECU basketball coverage in preparation for the March Madness festivities beginning this weekend.

The Future of Teaching Fellows
By Will Mercep (freshman)

When I think of ECU Teaching Fellows and Maynard Scholars, I usually think of them as being proud, perceptive, punctual, and preservationists. One might ask, “Now, what exactly do you mean when you say preservationists?” Well, I’m talking about self-preservation to be exact. We are always on the hunt to get the next generation of education majors through these doors. This is enacted, most notably, by our own Recruitment Committee. Their job is to get that pirate pride into the Teaching Fellow applicants and finalists. They also attempt to bring more high school students into the teaching profession as a whole.

But, that isn’t the only way the Teaching Fellows & Maynard Scholars show support. It’s also about the little things. When the list of 2008 Regional Finalists was announced, the front page of the TF/MS website read, “Congratulations 2008 Regional Finalists!” Under that was a link to a file with every TF candidate in the state and an invite to come to our Recruitment Day. We even get down to the nitty-gritty and have events with individual schools. Croatan and West Carteret High Schools out in Carteret County brought the members of their FTA organizations for a visit here on the ECU campus. Here at East Carolina teaching is paramount: Our Futures as Teachers Carve the Futures of Thousands.



ECU vs. Clemson and NC State
By Anthony Hingley (sophomore)

As a member of the ECU Pep Band, I go to the basketball games. Never have I been in such an electric atmosphere as when I attended the ECU vs. Clemson game and the ECU vs. NC State game.

First off, the Clemson game was lots of fun even before the game started. The memo for Pirate fans to wear black, aided by the free tee shirts, was heeded. Just looking in the arena, almost all you saw was black. When the game tipped off, Williams Arena almost exploded when the Pirates scored first. The entire first half was a lot closer than anyone anticipated, having a nationally ranked ACC basketball team coming to Greenville.

Even more exciting than that game was just a few days later, when ECU played an amazing, nail-biting game, which came down to the last minute of play. Seeing all the red from Wolfpack fans was not enjoyable, but having that many fans of the visiting team made Pirate fans that much more rowdy. I was very glad to be a part of that monumental victory, ECU's first every basketball victory over NC State, and our first basketball victory against an ACC team.

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.

The ECU Sixth Man Pep Band

By Anthony Hingley (sophomore)

At the beginning of November, auditions were held for the ECU Sixth Man Pep Band, a group that plays and really energizes the crowd at the basketball games. The audition itself was not hard, we just had to play a few things from our Marching Band music, but just seeing my name up on a list in an audition based group is always an encouraging experience. After the results were posted, we had one meeting as a group to discuss the guidelines for the ensemble, as well as the schedule, and to work through a few pieces for us to play during timeouts and such.

The first game was on November 10th, and the men's team started their season well. The band was pumped, and we were definitely keeping the arena loud and making life miserable for the opponents. Numerous times we disrupted the visiting team's flow with our noise and cheers. Personally, I was happy to see the men's team start the season with a win, given the way things turned out for the team last year. They seemed to be playing with high energy, and mostly strong fundamentals, which is always good to see.

The women's team also started their season well, with a resounding 97-52 win over Presbyterian on Veteran's day. That game was even more fun than the men's game, because the band was really able to get in the opponent's heads, and throw them off their games.

If you get a chance, check out one of the basketball games, and if you hear loud whooping and hollering, don't worry, that's just the ECU Pep Band!!!

Recruitment Activities

If you're a Regional Finalist, congratulations! We hope you'll be attending our Recruitment Day on Saturday. To get you excited about attending, here's a couple of stories from past recruitment activities: last year's Recruitment Day and this past fall's Interview Skills Day.

Recruitment Day
by Austin Kestler (freshman)

Recruitment Day is coming up this week for all the potential ECU Teaching Fellows of 2008. This is a very important day for those deciding whether or not ECU is the right school for them. (Which it should be, ARGH!). I know when I came to ECU a year ago for the first time, I was very nervous and anxious to explore what the campus had to offer. I was greeted warmly by Dr. Corbin and Mrs. Parrish. We learned interview skills that would help us in the finals of the selection process. We also began to meet with advisers in our particular field of study and got to talk to ECU Teaching Fellows that were already here to tell us how much they like ECU. This day for me was what made me decide to come to ECU. I attended other school's Recruiting Day events and didn't receive the same warm welcome. Now that another year has passed it is time for this day again. I've offered my time to attend this event to help nervous young recruits and make them feel more at ease about college.

Interview Skills Day
by Kaitlin Bunch (freshman)

My cousin recently attended the Interview Skills workshop on November 3. She is currently a high school senior and has applied for Teaching Fellows. She came to me Sunday at church and was telling me all about the things she had done at the workshop. I think two of the things she was most excited about was actually being on campus for the day and getting to know some people around here that are interested in the same things as she is. She told me that she really liked how everything was informal and the speakers. Her least favorite aspect of the workshop was that it was after her local interview. She said that the things she learned at the workshop would have really helped her with the first interview. There were things that she did well on at the first interview but she would have done so much better had the workshop been earlier.

I remember the Interview Skills workshop that I attended last year and I know how much it helped me. I think my most favorite part was the session with Catrina Davis. She was very interesting and very memorable. Those kinds of events can be kind of overwhelming at times because you realize that this is it . . . that you are one step closer to that final interview. Ms. Davis helped to put me at ease and get comfortable. I thought of those things before and during my interview and that made all the difference in the world. I hope that everyone had as good a time as my cousin did and they got as much as they could out of it so that they, too, can have successful interviews!