LOCH SHELDRAKE  — SUNY Sullivan and Today’s Students Tomorrow’s Teachers (TSTT) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) designed to recruit Sullivan County high school students in TSTT’s program for SUNY Sullivan’s Childhood Education Associate of Arts (A.A.) Transfer Degree Program. The MOU provides high school graduates that have completed TSTT’s 4-5 year program with 6 credits, valued at $1,617, towards their degree. 

The agreement also brings TSTT Regional Program Manager Shannon Daniel to SUNY Sullivan one day a week where she can oversee students’ progress with structured academic advising as they plan for and actualize meaningful careers as educators. The MOU signing took place on SUNY Sullivan’s campus on Tuesday, June 17, and was attended by 40 people. 

TSTT’s President and CEO Dr. Bettye Perkins said, “We have been working on this partnership for many, many years. And you know the Fallsburg school district, the Monticello school district, and Liberty, all have been part of the TSTT program.”

Perkins described the foundational experiences her TSTT students get while still in high school: “We’re building on the hands-on experiences of those students who entered the TSTT program as early as 7th and 8th grade. What did they do? They shadowed teachers, they observed teachers, we trained them how to tutor, they went into the middle school and they actually did tutoring. They actually started co-teaching, and some of them by the end had actually taught a class. Look at all that experience- we have done research to say that it’s about 250 hours of hands-on teaching experience.”

Perkins explained that the partnership with SUNY Sullivan arose out of a need to offer continued support to TSTT students once they arrive at college. 

“We track these students…And they come to the [colleges], and they have the tendency to, in their first year, kind of get lost. And all that experience is gone. So it’s been my passion and my desire to make sure that we continue to provide support all the way through that journey. And that’s what’s happening here today.” 

Perkins said TSTT staff at SUNY Sullivan will build a bridge for high school students as they begin their college career so that they can stay focused on becoming a teacher.

SUNY Chancellor John King said, “There simply could not be a more crucial mission than recruiting, developing, and nurturing the next generation of teachers...TSTT has spent years dedicated to boosting high school and college graduation rates and addressing our national shortage of highly qualified teachers.” 

“As a college president I have all sorts of decisions,” SUNY Sullivan President David Potash said. “Some decisions are really, really easy, and supporting Dr. Perkins, Rose [Hanofee, SUNY Sullivan Interim Vice President for Academic & Student Affairs], the amazing work she’s done on this - this was a really easy one to make.”

Testimonials from students at various stages in the TSTT program highlighted the continual and progressive nature of the mentorship. 

Jessica Martinez, from Benjamin Cosor Elementary School, said, “It’s truly an honor to be standing here today not only as a Teaching Assistant but as a proud graduate of Today’s Students Tomorrow’s Teachers. I came from a background where college was a dream, not a guarantee, but the TSTT program didn’t just believe in that dream, they helped me make it real. Through mentorship, guidance, and college preparation, TSTT gave me something invaluable: confidence…to any student wondering, if this journey is worth it- trust me, it absolutely is. Because today’s students really can become tomorrow’s teachers. I know that because I am one of them.”

Kyle Tremper said, “I’m a senior at SUNY New Paltz majoring in Early Childhood Education and a very proud member of Today’s Students Tomorrow’s Teachers.” Kyle first joined TSTT in 7th grade in Fallsburg Central School District. “This exposed me to the important concepts of becoming a leader and how leadership is crucial in the classroom. From shadowing teachers at the elementary and high-school level to actually formulating a teaching lesson…now as a college student that is getting ready to do his student teaching, and getting ready to take the New York State Teacher Certification Exams, I can take what I have learned from TSTT in high school and build on that.” 

After the MOU celebration had ended, Perkins was gracious enough to sit down with the Democrat to share her philosophy, passion and wisdom. She also spoke on the teacher shortage.

“This is a national issue. What we’re finding is that students are not interested in becoming teachers, so enrollment in schools of education is declining. New York State enrollment dropped in the schools of education 52 percent. So students are just not interested in becoming teachers…Why?

“A lot of people say low pay. The research bears this out; the number one reason is they don’t feel valued, they don’t feel supported. [Teaching] is not a profession that we look up to, and it is the one profession that makes all other professions possible,” she went on to say. “I think all of us can point to a great teacher that inspired us to become whatever we wanted to be. The research also says 65 percent of students who stay in the profession beyond 5 years decided they were gonna become a teacher in high school, not college. Why? 

“A teacher believed in them, a teacher tapped them and said, ‘I believe in you, you can be somebody.’”