Students from the Eastland-Fairfield Teaching Professions program compete at the annual Educator Rising state conference, held at Capital University.

Students from the Eastland-Fairfield Career & Technical Schools Teaching Professions program competed at the annual Educators Rising state conference competitions, held at Capital University (Bexley, Ohio) on March 9-10. Five students earned first place in their respective events and 18 qualified to compete at this year’s national competition.

Thirty-four students from the Teaching Professions program joined students from around the State of Ohio to compete, in person, at Capital University during the annual state Educators Rising conference. Twenty-seven of the program’s entrants earned top-10 placements that covered a myriad of events ranging from lesson planning, children’s literature, impromptu lessons, and public speaking.

Eastland-Fairfield featured six students to place first overall in five different events. Eighteen students qualified for the national competition, which will be held June 23-28, 2022, in Washington D.C., by placing inside the top-5 of their event.

The conference continued to be highly successful for Eastland-Fairfield students with the election of two of its students to state officer positions. Allison Slates (Gahanna) was selected to be the next Ohio Vice President of Membership and Recruitment and Amelia Alatsis (Gahanna) will serve as Vice President of Competitions and Community Service in 2022-23. Mary Kate Gebhart (Gahanna) is running as a candidate for a national officer position with Educators Rising with selections being announced later this year.

The junior and senior Educators Rising chapters at Gahanna Lincoln High School were also recognized with honors chapter distinction at the state conference.

Educators Rising is a career technical education student organization with intra-curricular learning opportunities integrated into existing education and training programs. Educators Rising has a presence in all 50 states and has more than 45,000 members, nationally.

The Teaching Professions program is a two-year career technical program designed to prepare the educators of tomorrow with experience in classrooms, internships, field trips, and a curriculum that allows students to develop skills in designing learning environments and classroom management. The Teaching Professions program is located at Gahanna Lincoln High School’s Clark Hall. For more information on the program, visit www.EastlandFairfield.com/Teaching.

A complete list of awards for Eastland-Fairfield students is available below. Top-5 Finishes 1st place: Lizzie Valdez (New Albany) and Reagan Petersen (Gahanna) - Children’s Literature, Pre-K 1st place: Chayni Smith (Gahanna) - Lesson Planning ARTS 1st place: Chloe Dickson (Gahanna) -Lesson Planning STEM 1st place: Anna Rice (Gahanna) - Creative Lecture 2nd place: Amelia Alatsis (Gahanna) - Creative Lecture 3rd place: Alexis Highland (Gahanna) - Public Speaking 3rd place: Sydney Errington (Gahanna), Allison Slates (Gahanna), Shelby Tocash (Gahanna) and Cee Cee Holmes (Gahanna) - Inside Our Schools 4th place: Lynn Pfister (Gahanna) - Lesson Plan CTE 4th place:  Emily Stanisovska (Gahanna), Gracie Hensley (Gahanna), Chloe Dickson (Gahanna), and Alexis Highland (Gahanna) -Researching Learning Challenges 5th place: Sophia Samuel (New Albany) - Lesson Plan ARTS 5th place: Mianni Gregory (Canal Winchester) - Job Interview 5th place: Audrey Worthington (Gahanna) - Lesson Plan STEM

Top 10 Competition finishers 6th place: Randie Menningen (Pickerington Central) - Chapter Display 6th place: Emily Hamric (Gahanna) - Exploring Administrative Careers 6th place: Ashley Michael (Gahanna) - Exploring Non-Core Teaching Careers 6th place: Caitlin McCaffery (Groveport Madison) - Children’s Literature, K-3 6th place: Reagan Petersen (Gahanna), Bailey Warner (Gahanna), Mary Kate Gebhart (Gahanna) - Inside Our Schools 7th place: Hannah Costello (Hamilton Twp.), Impromptu Lesson 7th place: Marissa Andrews (Gahanna), Children’s Literature, Pre-K 7th place: Emily Stanisovska (Gahanna), Exploring Support Services Careers 8th place: Hannah Costello (Hamilton Twp.), McKenna Lowe (Groveport Madison) and Jenna Keen (Hamilton Twp.), Ethical Dilemma 9th place: Megan McCoy (Canal Winchester), Lesson Plan Humanities 10th place: Cee Cee Holmes (Gahanna), Exploring Non-Core Teaching Careers