Cycle of mentorship supports region’s newest teachers

From a young age, Shelby Spriet knew she wanted to teach.

“I honestly just always had the mindset that I was going to be a teacher one day,” Spriet said. “I couldn’t picture myself doing anything else really.”

During her senior year of high school in Pendleton, she became one of the first students to enter the Oregon Teacher Pathway (OTP) Program through EOU. Tawnya Lubbes, an education professor who directs the program, said Spriet’s passion for teaching stood out right away.

“Upon first encounter I could tell she was a natural leader,” Lubbes said. “She was already mature beyond her years and understood what it means to be a culturally responsive educator.”

Culturally responsive teaching, mentorship and a focus on equipping local people to work in local schools are at the center of the Oregon Teacher Pathway Program’s work. The program partners with regional high schools to offer an Intro to Education class for dual credit, then offers those students fee remissions to attend EOU. In return, they mentor high school students, student teach in rural classrooms and represent the College of Education at local high schools. This cycle of mentorship is the hallmark of the Oregon Teacher Pathway Program.

Students in the high school course mentor elementary students, and EOU freshmen mentor high school classes. Education professors mentor EOU students, as well as the high school teachers they work with. And elementary teachers mentor EOU seniors completing practicums.

Lubbes said an advisory group developed the curriculum and principles to suit rural schools. Today, the program is active in 11 high schools and at Blue Mountain Community College. It has been recognized at local, state and national levels, and has inspired a number of others like it.

Spriet said she’s discovered inspiration at every turn — from her first grade teacher, to the high school teacher who led the OTP class, to Lubbes and other professors, back to a kindergarten teacher she shadowed during practicum.

This fall she’ll student-teach in a second grade classroom in Pendleton, and then graduate with a degree in Multidisciplinary Studies and Elementary Education, plus an endorsement in English for Speakers of Other Languages.

“OTP seriously helped shaped me to who I am today,” she said. “It forced me to branch out of my shell, it taught me how to be a leader, it assured me that I really do want to be an educator, and it opened my eyes to so many new experiences.”

One of the first students to enter the program as a high schooler, Spriet is also the first to complete it as an EOU graduate. About 30 percent of high school participants end up attending EOU, and once they get here 93 percent of them stay. In fact, every member of that first high school cohort will graduate from EOU. Spriet’s peers Lindsey Caldera, Mykal Weissenfluh and Anay Mendoza are on track to finish in the spring.

“My goal is to include every student and make sure they’re learning to their best ability,” Spriet said. “I never want my students feel like they just coasted through my class or were looked past. I want to provide the individual resources they need to succeed, and EOU helped prepare me to do that.”