Hill Day is held each spring for senior Teaching Fellows as a way to showcase the Teaching Fellows program for the Senate and House of Representatives. Seniors gathered for some inspirational messages from some of our elected officials before moving over to the Capitol to be introduced in both the House and Senate. Following those introductions, representatives from each school's area were called out to talk to Fellows and respond to any questions posed by our Fellows. CERRA would like to say a special thank you to Kathy Maness (pictured below) of Palmetto State Teacher's Association for planning and coordinating this event each year for our Fellows! See pictures below and more at https://www.facebook.com/cerrasc/.

By Dr. Michael Fleming, Program Facilitator
[email protected]
Submitted by Mr. Derrick Hines, USC Program Director

​The University of South Carolina Teaching Fellows have had a busy and productive month!  From attending Sophomore Conference to the Seniors at Hill Day, USC has been actively sprinting towards the finish of the academic year with the goal of continuing to impact our community positively.  
 
The Sophomore Cohort had a great time at the Sophomore Conference in Charleston, SC.  The breakout sessions and keynote address were excellent, and the networking dinner and experience were a hit!  Much was taken away from that weekend and has greatly impacted their pre-professional development.

Senior Teaching Fellows traveled the short distance to the SC State House for Hill Day on April 4th and were presented with the opportunity to interact with legislators and be recognized for their outstanding achievements over the course of their four years as members of the Teaching Fellows program, we are proud of their accomplishments and congratulate them on their impending graduation and wish them luck as they enter the professional field!

Seniors Briel White, Kirstin Cogdill, and Anna Pstrak were honored by the USC College of Education with awards for their outstanding achievements in their respective majors at the USC COE's Annual Awards Ceremony.  Briel is an Early Childhood major, Anna is a Middle Level major with Social Studies and Language Arts specialization, and Kirstin majored in Elementary Education, they individually recognized by the faculty in their content areas and were presented with awards as the most outstanding student in their class.
 
Awards night was also an opportunity to recognize those seniors who had successfully maintained excellent GPA's over the course of their collegiate career, 18 seniors received honor cords to wear at graduation for maintaining at least a 3.5 GPA through 8 semesters of coursework.  The Freshmen cohort was also recognized by the administration and faculty of the College of Education as having been awarded the prestigious honor of Teaching Fellows, and will continue striving to achieve academic excellence in the years to come.  
 
As a part of the ongoing service project featuring the Anne Frank House traveling exhibit, 7 USC Teaching Fellows traveled to Darlington High School on April 7th to train Teacher Cadets from Darlington High School and the Mayo School for Math and Technology.  The one-day, fully immersive training is designed to promote the growth of awareness of social issues within society by using the historical context of the life and times of Anne Frank.  The Teacher Cadets will guide their respective schools and communities through the exhibit during its two week stay.  

By Dr. Michael Fleming, Program Faciliator
[email protected]
​Submitted by Teaching Fellows and Campus Directors

USC Aiken
It was so wonderful being able to meet other future teachers who have the same passion as I do. I learned so much during Sophomore Conference, including how to better myself as a future teacher leader.
 
Loved learning about how to better myself as a teacher. Seeing my favorite animal at the aquarium was just a plus to the conference.
 
My favorite part of the conference was being able to spend time with my cohort, and learning about the diversity between all the other cohorts. I also enjoyed the workshops and finding ways to incorporate some of the ideas into my future classroom.
 
Sophomore Conference was amazing! The workshops were fun and informative and the food great (All hail Chik-Fil-A)! Not only did I get to spend the weekend with my best friends, but I also got learn about how to be a more well-rounded teacher. It was hands down the best thing we've done together as a cohort this semester!

Charleston Southern University
Our CSU Sophomore Fellows enjoyed a great CERRA Sophomore Conference. We are so appreciative of the many hours of planning and all the hard work put in by Dr. Michael Fleming, Dr. Jenna Hallman, Mrs. Katie Gibson, and Mr. Todd Scholl! Thank you for a great weekend!
 
“Wow, oh wow, am I excited to become a teacher!! Going to the Sophomore Teaching Fellow Conference reassured me of my call to teach. I made many new friends from other universities, sat in seminars with teachers who have taught 25+ years, and talked and talked about what I am undoubtedly passionate about = becoming a teacher!”
"I don't teach for the income, I teach for the outcome!" - Kayla Klimpel
 
Shoutout to Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention & Advancement for an awesome Sophomore Conference! I received great insight and encouragement from every speaker and from other students. Everything flowed really well (and the food was good :). I feel inspired and revamped to finish out this semester. What a wonderful conference weekend!  - Emily Baxley

College of Charleston
​The Sophomore cohort had an excellent experience at Sophomore conference. The aquarium was so much fun and everyone enjoyed being able to grow professionally through the many breakout sessions offered! It was great being able to network with so many other Fellows at other Teaching Fellows institutions. 

Lander University
​"It was so nice to go to the Teaching Fellows Sophomore Conference and see familiar faces! I had such a great time and enjoyed catching up with some awesome friends." - Savannah Malphrus 

The Sophomore conference was extremely informative and fun. The speakers were very knowledgeable of their topics. I gained from the conference new materials to imply in the classroom. I also left with an enlightened mindset, excited and more prepared for my future career as an educator. -  Haley Giles

Newberry College 
(Left) Newberry Fellows enjoying the Aquarium.
(Right) ​Newberry Fellows Chandler Keith and Luke caraway present at the Unconference.

Francis Marion University
Tierra S. Griffin  - I wanted to let you know that I truly enjoyed the conference. From the moment we got off the buses at the aquarium, I had an amazing learning experience from  meeting new people to networking to becoming a better individual  that would one day become an awesome teacher. Thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of this experience.  
Jordan Welch- I personally thought the conference went really well. It wasn't over jammed with things to do, and kept everyone just the right amount of busy. I really enjoyed the unconference, this was probably the first time I've ever participated in one of these and I loved it! I really enjoyed the conference. 
​

By Dr. Michael Fleming, Program Facilitator
[email protected]
Submitted by Mr. Ridge Welch, College of Charletson Teaching Fellow

Even though the semester is winding down, the Teaching Fellows at the College of Charleston aren’t slowing down at all! The challenge for this last month will be staying off the beach and in the library while we are having such beautiful weather!

Many of our Teaching Fellows spent their Spring Breaks studying abroad! Jade Carpenter went to Ireland with our First Year Experience peer educator program. Jordan Bates visited Cameroon, Africa and delivered school supplies to over 3,000 students!

We have a few Teaching Fellows who are also members of the Call Me Mister program here at C of We are so proud of our Freshmen Fellows! They decided that their service project this year would focus on the homeless of Charleston. They planned a percentage night at Chipotle and hosted a talent show to raise money for this effort. They raised well over $1,000 and are now working to distribute supplies to the homeless. C. The Misters visited a local school to read to students. Pictured above is Royce! 

Our professional development chair, Katy Templeton, was able to attend a SCEA meeting in Columbia. We are excited for her to share with us all what she learned!

​Two of our Sophomore Fellows, Terricka Leverett and Ridge Welch, attended a summit for the Save the Children Action Network. They were able to meet with every single lawmaker in the South Carolina delegation and encourage them to continue to invest in high quality early learning programs such as Head Start. Under the President’s new budget proposal these programs are in grave danger! 

By Dr. Michael Fleming, Program Facilitator
[email protected]

​The Center for Education Recruitment, Retention and Advancement (CERRA) was delighted to hold its annual sophomore conference for  Teaching Fellows at R.B. Stall High School on Saturday, March 25, 2017.

The sophomore conference is held each year for the  sophomore Teaching Fellows attending one of twelve Teaching Fellows Institutions across the state. 

This year's pre-conference for networking was held on Friday, March 24th at the South Carolina Aquarium. Fellows had an opportunity to get to know one another, network over dinner and enjoy a self-guided tour of the Aquarium. 

On Saturday, over 20 highly qualified educators from across the state provided 42 sessions of focused professional development covering topics related to Diversity, Advocacy and Leadership. This year's emphasis was on Stephen Covey's Seven Habits for Highly Effective People and featured Mr. Connley Skeen, Senior Consultant with Franklin Covey and friend of CERRA, as the keynote speaker. Students finished the day with an "unconference" in which they submitted their own ideas for topics they wanted to discuss. These student-led sessions were a great opportunity for students to discuss current trends and topics they were most interested in. 
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CERRA is extremely grateful to R.B. Stall High School, Mr. James Farrakhan, Mr. Tawayne Weems and the Charleston County School district for hosting this momentous event. A special thank you to the teachers at Stall who so graciously allowed CERRA to use their classrooms and to the staff at Stall who provided tremendous assistance to ensure the success of the conference.