MANSFIELD, PA— A few short months after successfully completing the
second half of student teaching in Gallup, New Mexico, Mansfield University graduates Victoria McNamee and Deanna Stevens, both music educators, have returned to the “Land of Enchantment” as new teachers.
McNamee begins her teaching career this fall in Gallup McKinley County School District (GMCSD), the school district where she student taught. She was hired to fill her cooperating teacher’s shoes after an internal change in the district left her cooperating teacher’s position open.
Stevens begins her teaching career this fall with a neighboring school district, Central Consolidated School District.
McNamee and Stevens were two of the three spring 2015 student teachers to embark upon a newly approved and carefully designed distant student teaching site in New Mexico.
Destiny Orchowski also participated in the first student teaching placements in New Mexico. She accepted a teaching position in Clark County School District in Nevada, the fifth largest school district in the nation.
“Student teaching in New Mexico was a brand new opportunity for Mansfield University student teachers, and one that it has already proven to be successful,” Christina Fry, director Education Relations and Field Experience, said. “With few higher education institutions in New Mexico preparing teachers and a significant teacher shortage in the state, Mansfield University student teachers are valued. In time, the partnership between Gallup McKinley County School District and Mansfield University has the potential to further develop. High school students in the area are already inquiring about the possibility of pursuing a degree MU, the university that their student teacher attended.”
As a result of the positive experience enjoyed by GMCSD and MU in the spring, other MU teachers were recruited to teach in New Mexico.
Christin Galluccio, a 2010 elementary education graduate and a 2012 Master’ in Reading graduate, was recruited to teach kindergarten in Thoreau Elementary School through the GMCSD.
“The people in New Mexico are terrific,” Galluccio said. I am thrilled for this opportunity. Signing bonuses and free rent are added bonuses for me as I begin another chapter of my professional career.”
“In a climate of educational challenges, teachers are needed,” fry said. “Mansfield University teachers are contributing to positive educational change in New Mexico.”
To learn more about majoring in Education at MU, go to mansfield.edu/edspeced/