Sandburg has launched a new initiative, the Men of Distinction Rural Teacher Pathways project, to support, young, diverse men as they explore careers in education, leadership, and service. Instructor of Education Meg Robbins explains the collaborative with Anthony Law, Associate Director of Student Engagement and Leadership:
“The organization is called Grow Your Own Illinois. It is an initiative to pull more paraprofessionals and people from other fields into a potential teacher pathway if they are interested in a career change or just for furthering their career. They had an opportunity to pair with community colleges, and we were one of I believe sixteen to receive a grant,” says Robbins.
“I paired with Anthony and partnered with him on this so that we could really focus on attracting diverse males into the field. We want all demographics, but to pull in some more males is important to us because right now, especially in our rural schools, we are seeing a real decrease in that demographic and we want to represent everybody,” Robbins adds.
Last year, Sandburg received a grant from the Galesburg Community Foundation to launch the Men of Distinction Rural Teacher Pathways program and has recently been awarded a $50,000 grant from Grow Your Own Illinois.
