MohaveWire

A partnership between Mohave Community College and Northern Arizona University that allows students to earn a four-year degree in elementary education without leaving  Lake Havasu City is about to make a direct impact in the city’s classrooms.

In the spring, 16 students from MCC’s Havasu campus will begin their student teaching - the last step in a program that leads to teacher certification - all but one will be teaching in Lake Havasu City schools.

Student Tiffany Berry hopes to do her student teaching in a third-grade classroom at Starline Elementary School, the same school where she has worked as an educational assistant for the past eight years. It’s also the neighborhood school her four children attended from kindergarten.

Berry, 38, was part of a group of educational assistants at the Lake Havasu Unified School District who continued their education at MCC in 2004 with the help of grant funding.

“Once I started taking classes, I loved it. I realized teaching was something I wanted to do,” Berry said.

A love of teaching that beckoned later in life also drew student Kathy Amos, 52, into the program after a 25-year career in the credit union industry.

“I always wanted to be a teacher. I just never had the time and never had the money to do it,” Amos said.

Amos and her husband moved to Lake Havasu City from Southern California in 2003 to be near her ailing father-in-law. The couple wound up staying in Havasu and Amos took a job as an aid at a preschool.

“I just loved it. I loved being with the children. I loved the fact that they were so eager to learn,” Amos said. “My husband encouraged me to go back to MCC and get my teaching credential.”

She hopes to do her student teaching in a first-grade classroom at Oro Grande Elementary School.

NAU program coordinator Tom Franklin said the MCC/NAU program is ideal for students like Amos and Berry who have deep roots in the community.

 ”It’s perfect for older students who are married and have kids and can’t go to Flagstaff,” Franklin said.

Before becoming an educational assistant, Berry spent 10 years as a stay-at-home mom and worked three years in the Starline cafeteria because the work hours allowed her to be with her kids after school.

“I honestly never expected to go back to school,” Berry said.

Now that she’s on the home stretch of completing her teaching degree, Berry says she takes pride in how she managed to go to school and work full time while balancing a family life.

“(My kids) are proud of me and that’s really cool. When they tell their friends, ‘My mom goes to NAU, my mom goes to MCC,’ it’s neat,” Berry said.

She’s also become a role model for her oldest son, Nickolaus, 19, who is entering MCC this fall with plans to complete the MCC/NAU elementary education program just like his mom did. “We study together,” Berry said.

The MCC/NAU “2+2″ program allows students to complete their general education requirements and program prerequisites as students of MCC at a savings of more than $12,000 over the cost of tuition and fees at NAU. Students complete their upper-level courses in on-ground classes taught in NAU’s facility at the heart of the Havasu campus. Up to three classes can be taken online.

“Students can actually get a Bachelor of Science in elementary education and never leave Havasu,” Franklin said.

Some students see a total savings $26,000 to $27,000 over two years by completing the elementary education degree in Lake Havasu City rather than going to Flagstaff, Franklin said.

“In a time when finances are uncertain, it’s a good thing to save money, and it really doesn’t prevent students from doing what they want career-wise,” he said.

Though the program technically helps students earn the certification required for teaching kindergarten through grade five, current Arizona Department of Education rules make it possible for graduates to be certified to teach at the middle school level and even high school, Franklin said. To qualify, students must complete their student teaching at a secondary school and pass a standardized test in their content area.

Franklin said the program is designed to allow a seamless transition from MCC to NAU if students work closely with their MCC advisor and keep in touch with the NAU program coordinator to make sure they’re on track with their educational goal.

 ”Going to MCC, you’re going to save some money and you’re going to have a good experience. There are a lot of talented instructors here,” Franklin said.

Fall classes begin Aug. 17 and registration continues through Aug. 24. For complete details about the teacher education program through MCC and NAU, talk with an academic advisor at MCC or NAU about Dual Admission to both schools. Or go to http://www.mohave.edu/ and click on the MCC&NAU icon.

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Cutline:   In the spring, Kathy Amos (left) and Tiffany Berry will begin student teaching - the last step in a program that leads to teacher certification through a partnership between Mohave Community College and Northern Arizona University. The program makes it possible for the students to earn their bachelor’s degree without needing to physically transfer out of town.