Students at Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka are meeting again to prepare for a state-wide conference for Educators Rising. That’s a club that trains high schoolers in teaching techniques to compete in education-related competitions at the state and national level. Competitions will range from children’s literature and creative lectures to lesson planning and interactive bulletin boards.
Euan Abroguena is a Mt. Edgecumbe student who runs communications and outreach for his school’s chapter.
“My family, almost everybody, are teachers, and that has inspired me to become one,” Abroguena says.
Abroguena isn’t the only member who comes from a family of educators. So is Sophia Manuba, who says Educators Rising helps her understand what goes into each lesson, from its planning stage to the classroom.
“I now understand how hard a teacher has to work towards just delivering their lesson. My lesson took about a week to prepare, but if you are in a career like my mother is, you would have to prepare your lesson within a day or even a night,” Manuba says.
Over the next few months, students will meet every week in preparation for the state conference in February. Some will advance to the national competition. Earlier this year, Emma Talus placed first in lesson planning and delivery and Claire Talus took seventh in creative lecture.
Only a handful of the chapter’s nearly 20 students want to be teachers. Many are involved to practice public speaking and build leadership experience. Jolie Samah sees Educators Rising as an opportunity to hone skills she could one day use as a lawyer.
“A leader is not just someone that’s loud or talks a lot,” Samah says. “A leader’s someone that’s doing things behind the scenes, working on something to improve their organization.”
Whether they envision a career in education or not, Manuba says the club has shown her and her classmates just how much work goes into teaching.
