Educators Rising program helps BUHS students reach new heights

The students are interested in what it would be like if they chose education as a career, whether it be a teacher in the classroom or a counselor/psychologist in the school working with children.

Dee Golden, a career and technical education teacher for Upshur County public schools, is overseeing the program. The transferable skills that can be learned as a part of Educators Rising are important to a successful career according to the teacher overseeing the program, Golden said.

Golden’s content specialty is ECCAT, an acronym for early childhood classroom assistant teacher.

“I am the local adviser for the Educators Rising Upshur County. It is a group of students who want to go into some form of education for our youth, whether it be a teacher or psychologist, or anything else that means they can work with children,” Golden said.

There are some students who do not want to teach, but rather they want to learn about children so that they can be successful in a career choice of their own,” Golden said.

There have been students who have wanted to be doctors and they join the class so that they can learn, Golden said.

Since they are a part of the class, they are automatically a part of the Educators Rising program with all of the positive transferable skills that are required to be successful in serving others, Golden added.

“The Educators Rising is actually a national program that has several state chapters. As a state chapter, we get together twice a year where we work together to determine what we can do to best help the students, while at the same time, the students understand what they can do to organize and share what they are doing with people throughout the state,” Golden said.

The drive will collect children’s books and little chapter books for the bigger children until Nov. 27. Books can be delivered to Golden’s classroom at the high school or by messaging on Instagram at @buhs_edrising.

At the state competition, there are 21 categories where it’s possible for students to qualify for national awards. Teamwork is important as they learn leadership skills, while the competition is important because it allows the students to compete in public speaking, impromptu debate and talking about how disability education impacts students, Golden said.

“The nationals is important because it is something that is hard but worth striving for, and it’s easier this year because the national competition will be in Washington, D.C., unlike last year in Arizona,” Golden said.

The students have an opportunity to travel outside the Mountain State and experience a different city, culture and lifestyle.

“It is important for them to see how things may be different in another community, and it’s important because it’s teachers who teach everybody. They teach doctors, they teach lawyers, they teach engineers, and they teach mechanics and everyone,” Golden said.

“These skills are transferable to any job, and each student must test to get the credit for the program. The test will show [not only] that they actually have the skills necessary to complete the task, but that they are leaders and willing to include others,” said Golden.

The practical application of learned skills in everyday living is what drives Golden to continue to serve her community.

“Critical thinking skills are so important and help people make good choices,” Golden said.

She estimated that between 50 and 55 high school students are a part of the program, and that they have been holding a book drive for local children for several years.

“We were trying to decide what we could do for the community and figured out we could collect children’s books. Then the question was how do we hand out the books to the children? We thought and thought and the Christmas Parade was coming up in Buckhannon and they all agreed to hand out the collected books to the children along the parade route,” Golden said.

The Educators Rising group of students will march as a unit Dec. 1 in the Buckhannon Christmas parade.

“Our idea of having a children’s book drive was so popular that the state chapter of the Educators Rising decided to have a little competition between all of the chapters throughout the state. We came in second, by only 10 or so books, but we were also excited that a little competition the students came up with inspired the entire state to follow through,” Golden said.

It turned out that the friendly competition across the state is now an annual service learning experience for each high school participating in the Educators Rising program in West Virginia.

Golden was hesitant to let her guard down about what specifically was her favorite part of the children’s book drive, but yet, she demurred and said, “it’s getting to see my students when they come out of that room from competition and they know they have done well and they feel good about themselves. The relief I see, yet at the same time the confidence that you see and you just know they have done well, where they know that they are better now than they were a year ago, and they know that they have matured,” Golden said.

Golden is most proud that the students participating in the Educators Rising program will be certified as teacher assistants upon their high school graduation, while at the same time working towards getting their teaching degrees or another degree that will allow them to work with students in a school setting.

The students participating in Educators Rising are also a part of the Grow Your Own program that partners with West Virginia Wesleyan College, under the auspices of an articulation agreement. The pact allows high school students at Buckhannon-Upshur High School to earn college credits towards a teaching degree while enrolled in high school. There are stipulations for students participating in the program, including the requirement to teach school in Upshur County for a prescribed period of service upon graduation.