CEHD News

Students Find Their Calling Via the Minority Teacher Recruitment Project
Jacqueline Nelson ‘84A, “99A, ‘03GE has few regrets worth mentioning. One is that the 42-year-old Western High School teacher wishes she’d come earlier to teaching.

“I really emphasize this to my students: Pinpoint early on what you want to do–because that is something I did not do, and I paid for it.”

Nelson paid for it in lost time and unrewarding secretarial jobs at a local law firm and a television station where, she says, she was appalled by the corporate “cut-throat” atmosphere. “That extremely competitive way of doing things is not my way,” Nelson says. “When I go into a job everyday, I want more than just a job–I want to be fulfilled in what I do.”

She was determined to change the course of her life. An old friend told her about a program in U of L’s College of Education and Human Development that helps minorities train for the teaching profession while offering scholarship information.

“I looked into it and one thing led to another.” What she looked into was the Minority Teacher Recruitment Project (MTRP). Although the program is geared mostly toward cultivating minority teachers among promising high school students, it also welcomes people such as Nelson who are changing careers.

With the MTRP’s help, Nelson was able to secure financial aid, earn a master’s degree in education, pass the teaching certification exam and become a teacher.

“I have a lot of valuable life lessons for my students,” she adds. “I was inspired by my MTRP experience to participate in special programs such as RAMP UP, which helps students who are two to three years behind in their reading skills.”

Loehelen Hambrick, the MTRP’s director at U of L, says Nelson is one of the project’s many success stories.

“There is a critical shortage of teachers nationwide, but there is an extreme shortage of minority teachers,” Hambrick says. “The significant shortage of minority teachers creates a huge void in the diversity education of all students, especially students of color. All students benefit from a diverse teaching force because it prepares them for coping in the world.”

Established in 1985, MTRP is a collaborative partnership between U of L and the Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS). the program has expanded to include the schools of the Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative (OVEC). The MTRP’s services include career guidance, course advising, professional development seminars and financial assistance.

In her role, Hambrick is responsible for recruiting minority students to U of L’s undergraduate and graduate education degree programs.

A teacher and administrator for more than 30 years, Hambrick says she was struck by the low number of minority teachers she found as a recruiter and high school principal for JCPS, the position is which she served before joining U of L in 2001.

“When I was a recruiter for JCPS, I saw firsthand fewer and fewer teachers of color in the classroom,” she says. Hambrick noted that in Jefferson County, only 14 percent of teachers are minorities while 35 percent of students are minorities. This reflects what she calls “a growing crisis” locally and nationwide.

Hambrick is taking steps to reverse that trend. She works closely with colleagues at JCPS, including the district’s own MTRP coordinator and former U of L MTRP student Tamela Kindard-Gentry ‘89A, ‘03GE, to cultivate programs in schools that boost kids’ awareness of teaching as a career option.

“I make a lot of trips to schools to meet with large and small groups of minority students or to work with counselors,” Hambrick says.

“I tell the students that everyone is a teacher and just doesn’t know it,” she continues. “You’re always teaching someone something: how to dance or how to play a Playstation game. So why not turn that skill into a profession?”

In one collaboration, U of L is working with the teacher education magnet programs at Doss and Atherton high schools. Rachel Miller from U of L’s advising center, with assistance from Hambrick, meets students at the magnet schools to tell them how to prepare for the university.

“We’re hoping that will encourage students–all students, not only minorities–to study in Louisville and go to U of L,” says Hambrick. “We want to establish a pipeline, with Rachel being a direct source for students.”

One program in the works at the teaching magnets will offer an introduction to education course in which students can earn both high school and college credits.

Along with many school collaborations, Hambrick says MTRP recruits from the general community. “I go to community centers, churches and other places with brochures and displays and make presentations,” she says. “A lot of people want to know how they can get back into the educational system. That kind of networking helps; we’ve had a lot of adults come into the program.”

Recruiting happens on campus, too.

“We go to the college fair each fall at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center,” she adds, “and we meet a lot of minorities on campus who may be interested in an education career and not know it.”

One enticement is the state-sponsored Minority Education Recruiter and Retention (MERR) scholarship, which provides $5,000 a year toward a qualified applicant’s education.

Though the number fluctuates, about 150 students participating in the MTRP are on full or partial scholarship at any given time, according to Hambrick. About 170 students will be on scholarship in fall 2004, she adds.

Nelson says the MERR scholarship was one of several she earned before her graduation at U of L. “It took me a long time to get through school,” Nelson says. “For about three years I was working while going to school part time. I finally decided to bite the bullet and go full time and just persevere and get it done, so the scholarship definitely helped.”

Nelson adds that the MTRP’s workshops on test taking helped her pass both her Graduate Record Examination to enter graduate school and the PRAXIS II exam required for teaching certification.

Finding and encouraging students such as Nelson and Kinard who have gone on to become teachers and role models for other minority students is what the MTRP is all about, Hambrick says.

“I know it might sound corny, but teachers do make a difference. We touch lives that others don’t want to have anything to do with. Teachers don’t throw people away.”