Fort Hays State University’s Teacher Education Department will host a Future Educators conference with the 2020 Kansas Teacher Educator of the Year Team from 8:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on March 9 in the Memorial Union for students interested in pursuing a career in education.

Principal Martin Straub is currently working with the FHSU faculty to organize logistical details for the conference. Any students interested in attending can email Straub. No deadline has been placed on invitations.

“We’ll make arrangements and get you there,” Straub said. “[The FHSU faculty] is trying to get an estimate since they’re going to feed everyone, too. Hopefully by the end of this week, I’ll send them the number we have and update it next week.”

Straub encourages students to take advantage of the opportunity if their future plans include a career in education.

“You get to talk to some of the state’s best teachers,” Straub said. “At Fort Hays State, it’s a good way for them to reach out. The bottom line is there are fewer people going into education all the time, and for those kids that are interested, we could give them a view of what it can be like and have them meet some people that are [pursuing education] beyond the teachers that they already know.”

Straub said he hopes to add an education career pathway to the school next year that would include working on-site with teachers at Hays Middle School and Hays’s elementary schools. Straub also said this program might be able to provide scholarships for students wishing to pursue educational careers.

“The pathway would include an internship where a high school student could teach lessons to kids, whether it be at the middle school or the elementary school, and actually plan with the teachers,” Straub said. “Shadowing often means sitting in the back of the room and taking notes, but this is supposed to be more hands-on.”

21cleiker@usd489.com