By On the second day of Education Week at Cal State Long Beach, the College of Education hosted several informational booths in the central quad where they showcased opportunities in teaching.
High school teaching jobs are expected to increase by almost 10 percent, according to the College of Education, who hopes to inspire more students to become teachers.
“We definitely are starting to see a more need for teachers, especially in [Los Angeles Unified School District], northern and southern California,” said Elodia Montano, student service professional in the Teacher Advising Center. “I think it’s the future. We need good teachers to educate our future generations.”
Volunteers handed out black and gold pins, pamphlets and bracelets, while offering information about how to pursue a career in education.
Nancy Levyssohn, student service professional in graduate studies, takes pride in counseling and leading students within the major.
“It’s great to talk to prospective students, especially when they don’t know which direction go to, but they know they want to be an educator,” Levyssohn said. “It’s always exciting when you’re looking at the prospective student and they suddenly get a light in their face, like ‘oh, that’s the one I want to do!”
Some members in the education department were happy with the turnout in the past two days.
“It was really great because we had four different events on campus yesterday, [and] a lot of students who attended these events were because of the information booths,” said Emely Lopez, Associated Students, Inc. college of education co-senator. “It is a successful booth to have each year to let students know about the events we have.”
Lopez said many of the students passing by were interested in getting their teaching credentials or pursuing a career in counseling.
Students walking along the aisles between the booths presented different perspectives to reaching a teaching position.
Addie Wolfe, a freshman majoring in psychology, shared her teaching experience when working with children.
“I was a preschool teacher for a few years and I really liked working with the little kids, but I wasn’t really good at classroom management,” Wolfe said. “And whenever [a psychologist] would come to work individually with students, I wondered, ‘how do I get to do that? That looks fun.’”
Cathy Ayala, a sophomore majoring in sociology, began her journey teaching others through the K-12 system.
“In high school, I was involved in the band and gained a leadership experience,” Ayala said. “I got the experience of teaching children and my fellow peers. Music made me forward my interest in education.”
The Educator’s job fair on Friday will serve as the culmination for the five-day-long series of events. There is expected to be over 90 employers at the event and different school districts all over California ready to interview students for a career opportunity.
