Potential students join COE for fall Visit Day
Fall COE Visit Day attendees
Sixteen students interested in pursuing undergraduate degrees in education at Georgia Southern University attended the College of Education’s Visit Day event held on Nov. 10.
The high school and potential transfer students participating in the event met faculty and current students, attended education degree program information sessions and took a campus tour. Students also had the opportunity to walk the University’s Botanic Garden, learning about the opportunities the Garden staff provide to collaborate with preservice and in-service teachers.
During lunch, students heard from current health and physical education major Grayson Fincham. A junior at Georgia Southern, Fincham shared with the crowd a story of his work in a local school with a blind student and how that secured his decision that education was the right path for him.
“[The student] comes up to me and says, ‘Coach, what is kickball?,’ and I said, ‘well, let’s go find out.”
Fincham explained that the student was doubtful, and reminded him that he could not see and therefore could not play kickball. However, Fincham guided the student, telling him when to kick and ran with him along the bases.
“He was ecstatic,” said Fincham. “He had never played kickball. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever done.”
“I remember everything about that day,” he continued. “On my way home, I called my mom and started crying…just because of how happy I was that I got to teach that little kid how to kick a ball. You guys will have an experience just like that…”
Attendees took part in a current student panel to ask COE students questions about their experience at Georgia Southern.
Attendees also heard from a panel of current education majors at the University. Representing a variety of education programs, the COE students participating in the student panel included: Fincham; Michelle Dorbu (early childhood education), Amanda Floyd (special education) and Michael Smith (middle grades education).
Of the potential students in attendance for Visit Day, many had already applied or have intentions to attend Georgia Southern thanks to the University’s positive reputation for teacher preparation programs.
“When I started looking for schools, I remember seeing that Georgia Southern is one of the best for education,” said high school senior Emma Vickers.
From Lawrenceville, Georgia, Vickers said she has always known she wanted to be a teacher and is looking to pursue a degree in early childhood education.
“I was the kid in school reading the big books in the teachers chair to the younger kids,” she said.”I’ve always liked teaching kids, and I love seeing the light bulb go off in their heads. I teach dance every week to three-year-olds, so that light bulb is always there, and just the small things are so important to them.”
Rebekah Lafontaine, a senior high school student from Evans, Georgia, was also interested in a career in early childhood education.
“All my teachers made me love school,” she explained. “I want to make kids love school and be creative and have everything I have experienced when I was younger.”
Taylor Girardeau, a student at Woodville Tompkins Technical and Career Institute in Garden City, Georgia, explained that she really loved Georgia Southern’s campus and what it has to offer.
“This campus is amazing,” she said. “I have met some of the professors, and they are really nice. And the student to teacher ratio is really good.”
Girardeau’s plan is to pursue a degree in secondary education with a concentration in physics and possibly even continue on to one day teach on the college level.
“I really like physics,” she explained. “It comes natural to me, and I want other people to interested in it like I am…Math and physics go hand in hand. I want to help students to understand the math part of it so they don’t get overwhelmed.”
The College of Education hosts Visit Day twice each year. The next Visit Day will be held on February 2, 2018. For more information, visit http://admissions.georgiasouthern.edu/visit/on-campus-events/ and select “major-specific visits.”
To view photographs taken during the recent Visit Day, visit our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/georgiasouthernuniversitycollegeofeducation/
Posted in COE Events