MEA partners with educators and schools to inspire youth to consider careers in education

A growing corps of teacher cadets has joined a statewide effort to recruit the best and brightest educators to Michigan’s classrooms and help address the state’s continuing educator shortage.

To inspire young people to pursue careers in education and return to their hometowns to become educators, the Michigan Education Association is collaborating with current educators, school districts, students and policymakers to support teacher cadet programs throughout the state.

These programs pair middle and high school students with a mentor teacher, allowing them to observe and learn firsthand what it takes to run a classroom and help all students succeed. Participants help develop and deliver lesson plans and even work with current students in a classroom.

One teacher cadet who has taken the next big leap toward a career in education is Landen Robinson. Now a sophomore in Wayne State University’s College of Education, Robinson first fell in love with teaching in high school, where he spent two years in a teacher cadet program at Lakeview High School in St. Clair Shores.

“It was my favorite part of high school,” Robinson recalled. “I got to jump in and teach, and I loved doing it. It’s very cool to have a chance to see the inside before you jump into a profession.”

Today, Robinson is president of WSU’s chapter of Aspiring Educators of Michigan (AEM), the college student arm of MEA.

Educators like Sarah Le Febre are building the bridge that connects students to career paths in education. A longtime English teacher at Holland High School, Le Febre launched a Future Educator program three years ago. The program in Holland is part of a wave that has spread across the state since 2020, aiming to grow and diversify the teaching ranks in Michigan.

“Teaching this Future Educator course has breathed new life into my career and given me more reasons to love the profession,” said Le Febre, who also serves as president of the Holland Education Association.

She recruits students who reflect the diverse demographic makeup of the district. The hope is that if they leave to become educators, they’ll return home to become master teachers, she said.

“They know us, they love us, and we love them back,” Le Febre said. “We want to nurture that relationship and keep them here.”

Through local programs and its statewide work in leading Michigan’s Educators Rising affiliate, MEA helps to engage and support potential educators as part of addressing statewide educator shortages. While there is still much work to be done, many indicators are showing improvement, according to Michigan State University’s Education Policy Innovation Collaborative.

A teacher cadet program became part of Armada Area Schools’ career and technical education offerings two years ago. Aric F

oster, a veteran English teacher who leads the Macomb County school district’s teacher cadet program, says he hopes to fortify students’ passion for teaching, or at the very least help them develop transferable skills for any career.

“I tell them, ‘I’m not going to convince you to be a teacher; my role is to show you what it is so you can make an informed

decision. When the year is done, if you love this, do it.”

Among the field trips Foster engages his students with is the MEA-sponsored Ed Rising Conference, where aspiring educators can access professional development opportunities and numerous competitions while also interacting with peers from across the state.

Recent Armada High School graduate Melina Accardo, who participated in Foster’s program, says she appreciated the realism of the cadet program. Last spring, she was named Armada’s career and technical education student of the year.

“Foster wrote me a nice letter to let me know I deserved the award and I was going to be a great teacher, and that really warmed my heart,” Accardo recalled. “We all have our moments of doubt, but it’s nice to have somebody who’s always there to back me up.”

For more on the MEA’s efforts to attract new talent to the education profession, check out a recent package of stories from the MEA Voice magazine.