{"id":91690,"date":"2019-09-05T15:40:06","date_gmt":"2019-09-05T20:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/?p=91690"},"modified":"2019-09-09T21:22:01","modified_gmt":"2019-09-10T02:22:01","slug":"outstanding-freshmen-join-innovative-teacher-education-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/outstanding-freshmen-join-innovative-teacher-education-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Outstanding Freshmen Join Innovative Teacher Education Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_91812\" style=\"width: 601px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/outstanding-freshmen-join-innovative-teacher-education-program\/ucimg-972\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-91812\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-91812\" class=\" wp-image-91812\" src=\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/UCIMG-972-2048x1150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"591\" height=\"332\" srcset=\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/UCIMG-972.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/UCIMG-972-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/UCIMG-972-768x431.jpg 768w, https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/UCIMG-972-640x359.jpg 640w, https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/UCIMG-972-580x326.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 591px) 100vw, 591px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-91812\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The 2019 cohort of the Mississippi Excellence in Teaching Program at UM is (front row, from left): Emily Smith, ThiCat Vu, Addison Phelps, Mary Kellum, Shelby Phillips, Erin Brechtel, Katherine Clark, Sadie Stocks and Hannah Davis; (middle row) Celia Hunt, Camryn Long, Matthew Jalufka, Anna Robinson, Raegan Gourley, Taylor Swartz, Caroline Cross, Hailey Hamil, Kylie Scott and Savannah Armistead; and (back row) Madelyn Solari, Holly Gardner, Lauren Fiedler, Charles Deaton, Sebastian Mink, Chloe Crane, Kathleen Tune, Eleanor Perkins and Jordan White. Photo by Thomas Graning\/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services<\/p><\/div>\n<p>OXFORD, Miss. \u2013&nbsp;The University of Mississippi has welcomed 28 outstanding freshmen from eight states into the&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/metp.olemiss.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mississippi Excellence in Teaching Program<\/a>. The seventh cohort of this innovative teacher education program comes with an average high school grade-point average of 3.91 and ACT score of 29.3.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The new class brings the number of METP scholarship recipients at Ole Miss to&nbsp;174 since 2013.&nbsp;The new cohort features 10 elementary education majors, five English education majors, three math education majors, six science education majors and four special education majors.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;METP is designed to attract high-performing students, train them at the highest levels and retain them in Mississippi,&#8221; said Blake Adams, METP coordinator. &#8220;We feel that it&#8217;s really important that we&#8217;re attracting Mississippi students who know Mississippi K-12 education, but also out-of-state students who bring with them their own experiences.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The incoming freshmen are: Savannah Armistead, of Columbia, Missouri; Erin Brechtel, of Gulfport; Katherine Clark, of Southaven; Chloe Crane, of Euless, Texas; Caroline Cross, of St. Louis; Hannah Davis, of McComb; Charles Deaton, of Jackson; Lauren Fiedler, of Sappington, Missouri; Holly Gardner, of Lansdale, Pennsylvania; Raegan Gourley, of Madison; Hailey Hamil, of Suwanee, Georgia; Celia Hunt, of Milton, Georgia; Matthew Jalufka, of Ocean Springs; Mary Kellum, of Memphis, Tennessee; Camryn Long, of Brentwood, Tennessee; Sebastian Mink, of Long Beach; Eleanor Perkins, of Tupelo; Addison Phelps, of Columbia; Shelby Phillips, of Hattiesburg; Anna Robinson, of Olive Branch; Kylie Scott, of Bowling Green, Kentucky; Emily Smith, of Booneville; Madelyn Solari, of Ridgeland; Sadie Stocks, of Brandon; Taylor Swartz, of Austin, Texas; Kathleen Tune, of Chester, New Jersey; ThiCat Vu, of Gulfport; and Jordan White, of Pelahatchie.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>METP is designed to prepare students for careers in secondary, elementary and special education. One of the most sought-after scholarship programs in the country, METP provides students with up to four years of tuition, housing, living expenses, a study abroad experience and more.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Most importantly, METP students get opportunities to enter the classroom to observe and interact with students much earlier than traditional education students.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The most important thing we do is what I like to call &#8216;early and often education exposure,'&#8221; Adams said. &#8220;A traditional <a href=\"http:\/\/education.olemiss.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">School of Education<\/a> student does not begin to observe in classrooms until late sophomore year, but METP students get to enter their freshman year and go every week.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Not only do they get additional hours in the classroom, but they get exposed to that kind of learning earlier and hopefully, that makes them a better professional after graduation.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>METP is financially supported by the Robert M. Hearin Support Foundation of Jackson and was established in 2013 with a $12.9 million investment. The scholarship was renewed in 2016 with a second investment of more than $28 million, which will fund the program through 2023.<\/p>\n<p>A joint effort with Mississippi State University, which recruits a partner cohort each year, METP is designed to help stimulate Mississippi&#8217;s economy and invest in the future of education throughout the state.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After graduation, METP members commit to teach in a public school in Mississippi for five years. However, this may be postponed for up to three years if graduates wish to pursue a graduate degree.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>With the third cohort graduating last May, 94 percent of program graduates are teaching in Mississippi public school districts.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Since I was young, I&#8217;ve always wanted to be a teacher,&#8221; said Phillips, an elementary education major. &#8220;Being in a program that introduces me to a group of like-minded students is such a cool opportunity.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Along with many other benefits, the program provides students with opportunities to travel, exposing them to different ideas and perspectives that they can bring back to Mississippi.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think seeing education in other countries can be a really awesome tool that we can bring back here,&#8221; said Scott, a science education major. &#8220;We get to see how they&nbsp;teach abroad and see what&nbsp;we like better, or what we think might not work as well here.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Sophomores travel to Washington, D.C., each winter to study American education through a policy perspective. And each summer, rising seniors travel out of the country to experience education through different perspectives, with past trips to Finland, Sweden, Canada and more.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think this program is important because it really gives us the confidence that, while we&#8217;re pursuing a degree in education, we will be respected and encouraged,&#8221; Scott said. &#8220;Most of the time when you say, &#8216;I want to be a teacher,&#8217; people tend to question why, but this program gives us the confidence that we are believed in.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For more information about METP, visit&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/metp.olemiss.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/metp.olemiss.edu\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>OXFORD, Miss. \u2013&nbsp;The University of Mississippi has welcomed 28 outstanding freshmen from eight states into the&nbsp;Mississippi Excellence in Teaching Program. The seventh cohort of this innovative teacher education program comes with an average high school grade-point average of 3.91 and ACT score of 29.3.&nbsp; The new class brings the number of METP scholarship recipients at<a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/outstanding-freshmen-join-innovative-teacher-education-program\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Read the story &#x2026;<\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[221,199,161],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v15.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Outstanding Freshmen Join Innovative Teacher Education Program - Ole Miss News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/outstanding-freshmen-join-innovative-teacher-education-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Outstanding Freshmen Join Innovative Teacher Education Program - Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"OXFORD, Miss. \u2013&nbsp;The University of Mississippi has welcomed 28 outstanding freshmen from eight states into the&nbsp;Mississippi Excellence in Teaching Program. 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