Educators Rising holds state conference at ISU

NORMAL, Ill. – Educators Rising of Illinois came to Illinois State University for their annual state conference yesterday. 

Educators Rising is a movement created to provide a clear pathway to increase teacher diversity and quality. This was their fourth annual conference featuring guest speakers from all over Illinois. 

From noon to 12:50 p.m., they had lunch and organized exhibits. Several tables were set up for attendees to visit featuring colleges and universities from Illinois and other organizations for aspiring educators. There were booths for student support organizations like Advance Illinois, Aspiring Educators, Golden Apple and many more. Representatives from colleges such as Aurora University, University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, DePaul university and more also had booths set up. 

The rest of the day included other breakout groups and opportunities for prospective educators to explore teaching careers. Other events included the opening and closing remarks of the day, concluding with an awards ceremony.

Director of recruitment, retention and student services for the College of Education at ISU Kelli Appel assisted with the event and spoke about the event. 

Appel said, “It is a career and tech organization in the state of Illinois and we are happy to support and sponsor their state conference event today that’s for people interested in becoming teachers.”

With Illinois’s educator shortage, this event hoped to draw in the next generation of educators. Around 700 education enthusiasts registered to attend the event and about 525 of them are students considering the education profession. 60 schools registered to attend the conference, most of them being high schools. 

“I think it’s a great event in a lot of ways. It helps them learn more about the career of teaching. It helps them learn more about the pathway to become a teacher,” Appel said. “And it also helps them really network other people they have things in common with and, also, feel that positive energy of so many other people that want to become teachers.”