After attending an open house of the College of Education and Human Services, Hayley felt at home. UNF was the perfect fit for her. UNF has her degree program, dedicated professors, smaller class sizes, and a welcoming environment. Hayley’s favorite part of being an Ambassador is to get to welcome new students into our program and community. It’s inspiring being around many future educators. Together, the Ambassadors share their passion for students and strategies to use in their future classrooms. A huge source of joy and impact as an ambassador is helping students find where they belong.
Her favorite events thus far have been the STEP (Solve, Tinker, Explore and Play) Lab visits. As a Secondary English Education major, she never gets to work with elementary age students or STEM related content, but these events allow her to get the best of both worlds. It’s always so fun and sweet seeing the local, visiting students’ faces light up as they build and move their LEGO robots. It has been teaching practice for me to help at the STEP Lab and learn skills outside of my degree, like coding.
She feels strongly that the ambassador program has pushed her out of my comfort zone, helped her build skills for my profession, and got her involved in a community of educators. Hayley just started her yearlong internship with the Jacksonville Teacher Residency (JTR) program and feels more confident going into JTR because of the mentorship and professional development through the program that has prepared her to teach in the classroom.