LPS student teachers prepare to launch their careers with interview fair

October 18, 2023

Lincoln Public Schools seeks to develop the next generation of educators. 

The school district recently held its Emerging Educators interview fair. Principals and other school administrators met at the Steve Joel District Leadership Center to find the best and brightest among current LPS student teachers for their teams next year.

“It was a really exciting time to just talk about my experiences and be able to kind of take that first step into becoming a teacher,” participant Amy Renteria said. Renteria studies at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln and student teaches in one of Fredstrom Elementary’s first-grade classrooms. 

The fair is an extension of the school district’s Emerging Educators Career Launch. The event aims to prepare student teachers for the next step to jumpstart their careers with LPS. The future educators get the opportunity to learn more about the school district’s recruitment and hiring processes, get resume help and continue to build their network and LPS knowledge with current staff. 

“Student teachers have always been vital to the success of LPS,” LPS Director of Recruitment Erik Witt said. “Most have been a part of LPS their entire college experience and have grown through their experiences in LPS classrooms. They understand the outcomes LPS has for all students and are excited to be a part of that mission!”

Participants like Karlie Muff also mentioned the importance of relationships they’ve formed during their practicum. She attends Doane University and student teaches fifth grade at Campbell Elementary. Muff appreciated the encouragement from building staff before the big day. 

“My team at Campbell, they were rooting me on and they're like, ‘You got this!  You're gonna do great’,” Muff said. “Just being able to see their faces, they helped build who I am and they're still helping build who I am. It is so important because they're going to be the first people that I learned something from and helped build my teaching career and who I am as a teacher.”

Muff and Renteria are also LPS graduates. Both mentioned how their time at LPS as students shaped their professional journeys of wanting to be teachers. 

“LPS definitely has a place in my heart for sure,” Renteria said. “I think I just kind of want to have the opportunity to give back to the community that fostered my own educational experiences and journey. So I think it's definitely the district that I want to be in and it's kind of home for sure.”

 

“I grew up in LPS as a student, and I just love the impact I've had from some of my teachers,” Muff said. “I want to be that teacher. I also love just the support of every single school together. It's really helpful.”

Muff’s principal, Sean Bailey, served as one of the interviewers at the fair. He agrees the bonds the future educators make within LPS is a crucial part of the recruitment and retention puzzle.

“We have a chance to build relationships with the student teachers from their practicum experiences to student teaching with us,” Bailey said. “We get to know them, develop relationships with them, and really foster that connection that we have with student teachers to be able to hire them and then continue to invest in them.” 

LPS student teachers make up the majority of teaching candidates during the hiring season.  The school district holds a student interview fair each semester. Leaders believe the event represents another way LPS is developing its talent pipeline by growing its own. 

“It is another example of how our district invests in future educators,” Witt said.  

 

Are you interested in teaching for Lincoln Public Schools? Visit our careers page at https://home.lps.org/hr/careers to learn more and apply for openings. 

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