Let us know what you are doing!

If you are a graduate of Gettysburg College and completed the teacher certification program, please take a few minutes to complete the very short survey at the link below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RM35YTQ

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Alumni Profiles

Read what our alumni have been up to!

Kathryn O’Hara (’10), a psychology major and elementary certification student, is currently enrolled in a Master's program at Boston College for Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology. Prior to returning to graduate school, Kathryn worked as a special education aide at public school in NJ and was placed in the school's autism classroom. Says Kathryn, “It was a great experience and I learned a lot, but I also realized that most of my students had started out in general education classrooms or were being mainstreamed into general education rooms and the teachers had no idea what to do with them.” Kathryn notes that this experience encouraged her to return to graduate school because she “can get a really deep background in educational psychology, learning disabilities and classroom practice that will make me a more competitive job candidate and a better prepared teacher!”  In her graduate program, Kathryn is conducting a project where she works one-on-one with a student, assesses his or her reading level, and implements an intervention. She says she is using many of the skills she gained in her education program at Gettysburg to help her with this project and many others! She is also enjoying her new neighborhood in Boston.

Ellen Speake ’10 has a passion for education and social justice. After completing an internship with a Mastery Charter School in West Philadelphia, Pa. during her junior year, she returned to campus knowing her work with the institution wasn’t over yet. The English major maintained a connection with her colleagues throughout her senior year, and even helped bring prospective students to Gettysburg for admissions tours. Towards the end of her senior year, Speake was offered a position at the school and she happily accepted. “My education courses definitely prepared me for my job,” she said. “My favorite course was Urban Education; not only was it centered around urban education, but it also blended several different components. I enjoyed the instructional knowledge that I gained, examining policy with respect to urban education, and looking at the different ways cities are trying to address the achievement gap. And the service-learning component was phenomenal!”

Nick Cala ’10 knew he wanted to be a high school social studies teacher early in life and hasn’t changed his mind. He’s currently enrolled in the Teaching of Social Studies program at Columbia University’s Teachers College. “When I’m learning about a certain concept, such as the hidden curriculum, I’m able to build on the web of connections that my professors at Gettysburg have already helped me make,” he said. “I feel extremely capable when it comes to taking part in informed discussions about the classroom.” A history major, he loved the way the best psychology, civics, and history courses were as much about the opinions of students as the content of the courses. But it was Prof. Powell’s Social Studies Methods course that made a major impact on his path to a career in teaching. “He united a study of some of the deepest issues of social studies - historical thinking, truth, the construction of in-groups and out-groups - with the possibilities that those issues have in the classroom,” said Cala. “Even having taken a year of graduate courses dealing with the teaching of social studies, it’s difficult for me to think of a time when I felt as engaged as I was in that class.”

Drew Wolenter ’11 is more likely to build a classroom than work in one. He serves as an AmeriCorps National Direct Member with the Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake organization, where every day is like the first day of school. “I’m the teacher and my volunteers are the students,” he said. “During the morning talk, which touches on safety and daily goals, I use the techniques I learned while at Gettysburg.” One of his favorite lessons learned in his education courses has also proven to be one of the most important: teachers should question their techniques to try and improve. A math major, he values his liberal arts education because he believes it encouraged him to be curious about the world around him. “If you meet somebody who does something completely different than you, embrace it as an opportunity to learn something awesome about a topic you may not have known about otherwise.”