Felician Helping Teacher's Aides See a Bright Future
Posted on: Wednesday, 21 May 2008, 15:00 CDT
By EVONNE COUTROS, STAFF WRITER
RUTHERFORD Jeanette Santiago never dreamed of finishing college, much less becoming a teacher, but on Saturday, the 35-year-old mother of two teenage boys was one step closer to that dream.
"Now, I will have my associate degree, and I am going to continue my education for my bachelor's degree," said Santiago, one of 16 teacher's assistants from Friendship Corner Day Care Center in Paterson who attended a ceremony at Felician College to celebrate this month's awarding of the associate degrees. "I'm so proud. My mother had 12 children, and I was number 11. I'm not stopping. I'm going on."
The ceremony at Sammartino Hall was attended by U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Felician College President Sister Theresa Mary Martin, and other officials of the college and its Division of Education.
The special program is the first of its kind in the state and trains teachers who expect to remain in urban areas to help build their communities. Two nights a week, teachers from Felician's Division of Education would travel to the day care center on Carroll Street for on-site classes so the 16 could earn associate degrees. The Stepping Up program is a collaboration between Felician officials and Starting Points for Children, which offers credits in early childhood education through a two-year on-site apprentice program for teacher's assistants at urban day care centers.
The "two-plus-two-plus-two" program earns students apprentice status, then an associate degree, and, if the students continue, a bachelor's degree.
Santiago, the wife of a Paterson police officer, joined her fellow students in receiving a yellow "friendship" rose for their accomplishments.
Menendez has supported student loan programs and Workforce Development opportunities to help train teachers to work in the urban areas.
When the students continue in the program for a bachelor's degree, their annual income can rise from $14,000 to as much as $55,000 a year.
Evelyn Garcia, 26, of Paterson said she was proud to be part of the first graduating class and reflected on her journey.
"Four years ago, I was coming out of high school, not knowing what to do, and then started working in day care," she said.
Alice Lemire and Dana Berry, the educational director and executive director of Starting Points, respectively, visited the day care center with the collaborative proposal for their potential students.
"They treated us like a family," Garcia said of the program. "Because of them I don't want to stop here. I want to continue ... and continue here at Felician. I feel very proud of myself."
Latoya Fulmore said the program gave her the opportunity to broaden her knowledge about day care and children.
"I've gotten the opportunity to grow, to learn how to deal with kids, and what to expect from them and their needs," Fulmore said. "We all know our own kids, but this program has taught us different behavior of other children. It's helped us even more on our jobs."
Menendez spoke to the students about his own immigrant family life and encouraged them to continue their pursuits.
"We have a growing gap between the number of teachers that are going to be retiring across the nation and the need for new educators," Menendez told The Record after the ceremony. "So this is a pathway toward that goal. They'll have an associate degree, but many of them are going on to a full, four-year degree. This is a great success story of taking individuals who really have a desire in their life to not only change theirs around but change the lives of young people."
Donna Barron-Baker, the dean of the Division of Education at Felician College, said the mission is for the students to take what they have learned and apply it to their community.
"If this group of students can learn and grow together, they need to go out and touch others," she said.
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E-mail: coutros@northjersey.com
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(c) 2008 Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.
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