FROM STAFF REPORTS

The Alabaster City Education Association received a $9,000 local project grant from the National Education Association Center for Great Public Schools to develop a mentoring program to encourage high school students to pursue careers in education.

The ACEA is partnering with Thompson High School’s Future Teachers of Alabama chapter in this endeavor. The program will match FTA members with a mentor who is an experienced educator willing to invest time and energy to develop the next generation of educators.

This first year, the program will have three main components. First, a mixer to allow FTA students and their mentors to get to know each other outside of a classroom setting. Second, students will be paired with a mentor teacher and will shadow the teacher in their classroom at least once per semester. The third component will allow mentor teachers to attend the state FTA conference as a guest of their student. The grant makes funds available to pay for substitutes for the mentors and for charter bus transportation for the mentors and students to and from the state conference.

“Because there is a teacher shortage crisis in Alabama as well as across the nation, we want to do our part in helping future educators establish a strong foundation in the profession. We are excited to start this program with the THS FTA and hope to continue it for years to come,” said ACEA President Ava Andrews.

The mixer is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 10, at Thompson High School