Aspiring teachers convene at Mauldin High School

Mykal Moore didn't need any extra motivation to speak at the You Matter Conference at Mauldin High School Friday. But a Washington Post article the Anderson University junior recently read punctuated why he felt it was important for him to be there.

"The article stated that there were 4,000 teaching vacancies annually in South Carolina, but only 2,000 college graduates in South Carolina annually go into education," Moore said. "Those 2,000 vacant spots are supposed to be filled by people who grasp the calling to teach. … The reason they're not going into teaching, even if they feel the calling, is that they're not seeing the value by those who are already teachers."

Moore and three other Anderson students in Clemson University's Call Me Mister program led one of the 33 workshops and sessions that were part of the conference for teacher cadets. The others were led by instructors from every teaching level - elementary to university.

Over 175 high school students in teacher cadet programs from throughout the state were able to attend four sessions apiece.

"We had a wide variety of presenters," said Mauldin High Teacher Cadets instructor Rachel Turner. "Students could select the top four sessions they wanted and two alternates. We just kind of shuffled and tried to make sure everyone got what they wanted.

"It's been an overwhelming day in a good way. … It's exciting to see the kids get excited about what they're doing."

During the session on Call Me Mister, which is a mentoring program designed to recruit African American males to enter the field of elementary education, Moore told students how he caught the teaching bug during his junior year at Aiken High School.

Moore, the junior class representative of the Teaching Fellows at Anderson, also related teaching back to the name of Friday's conference.

"It doesn't matter how nice your classroom is, students won't care about what you're teaching if they don't believe that you care about them first," Moore said. "That's why you matter."

Buford High School juniors Kalea Smith and Isaiah Johnson left Lancaster for the conference around 6:30 a.m. Friday. Both said the over two-hour ride was well worth it.

"It's my first time being to a state convention like this and it's been cool," said Smith, who participated in sessions on science, autism and anti-bullying.

Johnson took particular interest in the Fun with Foldables session led by Hillcrest High math teacher Jennifer Southers. There he said he not only learned things that he will hopefully use a teacher some day, but that he can currently use as a student.

"We learned about folding index cards in certain ways to help review and study specific things," Johnson said. "I'm looking forward to coming again next year."

Mauldin High principal Scott Rhymer was appreciative of the opportunity for his school to be able to host an event that he believes is of vital importance.

"It takes a dynamic person to be a successful teacher in this day and age," Rhymer said. "It's so unlike what I went through as a student back in the 1980s. Teachers today have to have a skill set that teachers years ago just didn't have to have."

After the sessions were over, students had lunch in the cafeteria. There they could also meet with a total of 15 state colleges that had booths set up. Turner said the information distributed from school officials at each booth was strictly from the college's education department.

Furman assistant director of admission Allyson Brown was excited to get to interact with the teacher cadets Friday. It's her hope that students she greeted at Furman's booth Friday will not only go on to become successful teachers, but will do so in South Carolina.

"The teacher cadet program is an amazing thing to have at the high school level," Brown said. "The long-term benefit that sometimes isn't seen are those that stay after graduating college and make their home state better."

Friday's event began with breakfast and registration then a keynote address from Ann Marie Taylor, South Carolina's 2008 Teacher of the Year. The event concluded with a closing session that included door prizes, a video message from 2015 S.C. Teacher of the Year Jennifer Ainsworth and a final address by Rona Neely, the CERRA Program Facilitator for Region 1. CERRA sponsors the Teacher Cadets program.

In between the sessions, meals and speakers, students and teachers also signed a large poster with You Matter printed in the middle. Turner said it will be distributed to special need students at the Washington Center as a service project.

For Turner, the Washington Center poster symbolizes the whole idea of the You Matter Conference.

"It's really exciting for me to look out and see there are 175 young people who want to make a difference for other young people."