Think about your work setting. What can you celebrate about your staff beyond the amazing work that goes on within the school? How can you incorporate their talents, knowledge, and passions into the work that done at school? This is the challenge that SURN embraces each time a new graduate student joins our team.
You read the blog; perhaps you have attended a SURN professional development offering this year or have gotten a SURN email, but did you know that the SURN staff has four part-time graduate students?
This week we want to celebrate the professional contributions of our SURN graduate students. They learn from us the nuts and bolts of effective program development, grant writing, and stakeholder communication – all skills they can transfer to their future workplaces. We learn from them what their passions and interests are. While at SURN they: communicate with stakeholders, prepare materials, welcome professional development participants, and coordinate programs within a larger grant. In short, they contribute in numerous ways to support learning and teaching in the Commonwealth.
Outside of their time at SURN, the graduate assistants are studying for master’s and doctoral degrees. As part of their scholarly journey, they are presenting and writing.
Amy worked to create and currently coordinates and co-facilitates the New Leaf Women’s Group, a women’s group for William and Mary students who want to make changes to high-risk substance use patterns. She will also be presenting on techniques for working with couples impacted by addiction at the International Family Therapy Association’s 22nd World Family Therapy Congress in Panama City, Panama.
Jenny P. will be co-presenting at the Virginia School Counselor Association conference a session entitled, “Cyberbullying Support and Educational Group Curriculum.” She is also co-presenting a session entitled, “An Exploration of College Major Selection of High School Students” at the William and Mary School of Education Research Symposium.
Kerri is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the William and Mary Educational Review, a student run peer reviewed publication at the School of Education that is currently in its third publication cycle. This April she will be co-presenting her research paper, “School Leaders and Media Literacy: A Narrative Study on the Impact of Attitudes and Perceptions,” at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. During the past two fall semesters, she has taught a graduate course for pre-service teachers entitled Designs for Technology Enhanced Instruction.
Paige provides support to pre-service teachers as a University Supervisor and Adjunct Professor at William and Mary. She also serves on the peer-reviewed WMER Board a journal within the William and Mary School of Education. Paige will be presenting at the upcoming NCN Conference through the Center for Gifted Education and the Research Symposium, both at William and Mary.
The experiences of these four women benefit SURN because they are constantly learning, writing, presenting, and reflecting. They have an amazing synergy about how they can better serve our stakeholders. John Hattie talks about “Know thy impact.” These graduate students are part of the SURN difference.
What is the impact of your staff within the school? Within the world? Think about how these two can come together.
