๏ปฟ32. Ensuring Rural Learners Succeed with Joe Ross Interview and Nancy Mondragon
Michelle Rathman: Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Rural Impact. Welcome back. If itโs your first time, we're so glad that you're here. Again, my sincere thanks for you joining us today. Now today, as I promised, we are going to have a conversation focused on solutions to address America's rural teacher shortages.
And of course, with that, I promised a story that perfectly demonstrates the power of rural collaboration to solve local challenges that have a long term and widespread impact. So, I want to start off by sharing something with you that I learned in researching this particular episode, and this comes to us from the National School Board Association from a report in 2024.
And here goes. The report says, "that 55 percent of new hires in rural schools lack any teaching license and are unprepared to teach." I think no matter where you sit, whether your little ones have you know, flown the nest it really should be concerning to us because this is America's future that we're talking about.
You know, our preparedness of teachers is a direct impact on the preparedness of those students. And we know that data tells us that teacher shortages have been developing much more rapidly in the past decade than in previous years. In fact, many are describing this as a crisis situation in many schools and rural is certainly not excluded from this condition.
And we also know that the pandemic years, I just got to kind of add this another layer to it added to what had already been a developing teacher shortage problem.
So, we know that there are a number of complex reasons behind the shortages and the empty pipelines of these experienced and prepared teachers, but one such reason is indeed the closing of university programs that frankly educate our teachers.
And so, when you think about you know, how embedded that challenge might be as it happens. This is the kind of dot connecting conversation we're going to have today, because to bridge that divide, there's a call and an opportunity for community colleges, as well as other post-secondary education institutions to innovate, think and do outside the box to provide for, as I said, flexible, quality education that provides opportunities for real adult learners who want to become teachers, and would prefer to have a career educating the students in the communities that they live in and love.
So, to have this conversation and, and to really help us connect those dots, I had the pleasure of talking with Joe E. Ross. And Joe is the president of REACH University, and you're going to hear how REACH is helping schools grow their own highly effective teachers and leaders and really how their work is working to pursue equity and underserved urban and rural communities and job embedded degree pathways.
Excuse me. And you're also going to hear, I'm going to jump ahead of myself, from a very special individual. Really, it was a heartwarming conversation. And I think you're going to really just appreciate her story. And her name is Nancy Mondragon and Nancy is a 2024 graduate from Reach University, and now so proud to share that she will have her own, very own classroom and the upcoming school district within the Arkansas Waldron School District.
So when you want to understand the true impact of how, programs and policy and investments really impact individual lives and communities. A good story is like Nancy's does the trick. And if you're not convinced, listen to this conversation, and I think you will end up agreeing. Okay. With that in mind, I'm sending out this invitation for you to put on your podcast frame of mind and listen to my conversation with Joe E. Ross of REACH University and Nancy Mondragon, a new teacher and graduate of that same program. Are you ready? Let's go!
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Michelle Rathman: Joe E. Ross, president of Reach University and past president of the California County Boards of Education. Thank you so much for joining us on The Rural Impact. We're really glad to have you here.
Joe Ross: Michelle, it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you.
Michelle Rathman: You know, Joe, I told our listeners prior to bringing you in that this is the third in our series that we are focusing on post-secondary education and career pathways. I truly mean this when I say I've been eager to have this conversation. And for many reasons one of which includes concerns over rural school teacher shortages and, you know, Joe, I always have to do my homework.
And so I've been kind of doing some research and I, I had a look at the April 2024, it's a publication put out by, let's see here, The National School Boards Association. And the quote at the top of the page is really strong just really struck me like kind of a lightning bolt.
"Time is not our friend. 55% of new hires in rural schools lack any teaching license and are unprepared to teach."
And for those of you who are interested in this subject, we'll make sure that we put several links on our resource page that relate to this subject. But the other reason I've been excited to have this conversation, because I am the mother of and the mother-in-law of educators.
And so, the work that you're doing, what I've learned about Reach is so fascinating, and I love the simple premise that goes, reinvent teacher education. So Joe, let's start there. Tell us how this came to be and why.
Joe Ross: Well, let me start with a shout out to teachers as a way into that. A couple of years ago, my mother who is now 91 decided to tell me and maybe embarrass me in front of others that were listening, that she still remembers when my second-grade teacher called the house at the end of the year crying.
And I imagine as a parent, that must've been a moment of terror. It turns out she was crying because I did okay on a reading test at the end of the year. And I, when I heard that, I was like. ' What? Like what?' I remember my second-grade teacher, Ms. Fenner. And what I realized as I thought back to that year is that, yeah, I remember her because she took me out of the classroom every day with a few other kids to do reading games.
And decades later, I realized for the first time that she was pulling me out for reading intervention, and I had no idea. I was confident. I thought I was smart. I thought I could do anything. And she instilled that confidence in me. And of course, learned to read and graduated from high school and college and went on to serve in the Navy and go on to graduate school and eventually find myself running a university as its, as its president.
And so I think it's obvious that I owe Ms. Fenner thanks. And I think it's also obvious that every child in this country deserves a Ms. Fenner. And yet, there are millions of students, we estimate, about 5 million a day who are walking into school buildings where at least one classroom lacks a permanent or qualified teacher, and often multiple classrooms.
And this is especially true in rural communities. And the irony is, in those very same buildings, there are the adults who could be those teachers. They're working as aides and afterschool staff and coaches. They're in the lunchroom, they're in the office, they're driving the buses. Some of them are even janitors.
And most of these folks share the same story. At some point in their lives, they were forced to choose between a job and a degree. And so, the question is, what if they didn't have to make that choice? What if they could use their job to earn the skills and the credentials they need to promote into a teaching job, if not in the same building where they already work, at least in the same community where they're from, so that the teachers in that community have the teachers they need.
And so, so the question that you asked, what does it mean to reinvent teacher education? First means reinventing higher education.
Michelle Rathman: Hmm.
Joe Ross: And so that's what Reach University is about. We are a credited nonprofit university that essentially is turning jobs into degrees, instead of the other way around. And, it starts in rural communities, and we call that model, the apprenticeship degree.
Michelle Rathman: I, I, all of what you're saying, I'm nodding because I think about, you know, shout out to Mrs. Weiss, my fifth grade teacher who, you know, kind of saw potential in me that others just, you know, kind of, they thought I was just not paying attention or, and I, I was, I was just kind of ahead of, of that. And sometimes it takes someone who just has such a different perspective on a child's journey through education.
And I love so much about the work that you're doing in particular, is that we talk about the, the need to recruit, recruit, recruit, and that often triggers us to think recruit from with outside of our communities and the work that you're doing. Really kind of turns that on its head because you're identifying people who are a part of the fabric of the community, who may know the children, the children's families, and just has a completely different set of an awareness of the environment of, of where the children are learning.
Joe, I, you know, you're a nonprofit. And so I think one, we have a lot of areas that I want to cover, but I would like to hear some of your views. And I've read some of your op ed pieces. I'd like to. For our listeners to understand from your perspective and the work that you're doing, what is the role of philanthropy in training tomorrow's educators?
Because it's, it's not just the traditional pathways of you go to school, you graduate, you go into this and you get your teaching, you know, education, your degree certificate. Talk about philanthropy and the role that that has. I imagine it's quite significant.
Joe Ross: Yeah, I mean, I would start with the end in mind, which recognizes the huge opportunity here to solve a systemic problem, which philanthropy loves to do. Right? So, there's a systemic problem, and there's a solution waiting. The systemic problem is we have 300,000 teacher vacancies by all the estimates. They're different in different places.
We know they're severe in rural communities. And on the other side of the, that equation, we have 1.3 million classroom aides working in schools across the country. So you've got 1.3 million classroom aides and then a bunch of other employees, typically who do not have a bachelor's degree, but they're in the schools already.
And then you have a fraction of that number of classrooms with vacant with vacancies when it comes to a teacher. Right? And so what you have here is kind of a misalignment of the labor market in many ways. So, I think philanthropy should love this because that that suggests a solution. And the question is, how do we get to the solution?
If a fraction of the employees working in schools without a bachelor's degree in a variety of frontline positions could get that bachelor's degree without leaving the job, without leaving their community, without relying on some someone from somewhere else coming in. But embracing the talent that is already there.
If a fraction of those folks could become teachers without stepping out in that way, then we actually would not have a teacher shortage. Like not, it'd be over. We'd have a persistent evergreen pipeline of local talent. So, the question for philanthropy is how do we get there? And it requires a couple of things up front to build to a solution that is sustainable without philanthropy, right?
You don't want to create a model that always requires philanthropy. So, what's required? Well, universities need to reconceive a high-quality degree as a high quality job embedded or apprenticeship degree. That takes some thinking about build, build work and redesign work that takes money. Two, universities and their employer school partners need to think about ways to sustain the model beyond a certain period of time once it reaches a certain period of scale using evergreen funding, essentially without student debt. And I can talk more about the student debt issue.
Michelle Rathman: Right,
Joe Ross: So I think that's the you know, the, the opportunity for philanthropy let's be is to look for innovative players, either school districts or higher education institutions, or ideally both in partnership, who are committed to this, to this, to this objective, and then holding them accountable to a period of time where they can build an apprenticeship degree that's debt free, affordable, high quality, and can rely on funding that is becoming available now to sustain such a thing without saddling the future teacher with student debt, which is just absolutely critical.
Michelle Rathman: Absolutely. Yeah, what you're saying is really kind of the essence of where I want to go next, which is really connecting those dots, which is what we all know we try to do here on this podcast. Before we get into some policy conversation. I take a look at these dots. So, leveraging hybrid learning, competency-based education, those important apprenticeships, then there's the Community College and Employer Partnerships.
So, could you kind of weave together the story? Because part of it is, as you said earlier, it's the systemic issues that we have to address. And if we don't at least put ourselves in the frame of mind that says something different can happen, what you've created is a model that encompasses all the things I just mentioned.
So kind of go, if you could map it out, what do those things look like? The big picture, how do those dots connect?
Joe Ross: Yeah. So I think the big picture starts with embracing the optimism that higher education actually can change. Right? And these are examples of recent change. But if you go back across the hundreds of years of history of higher education in the United States, it has had radical change periodically, almost every century and certainly every generation as well.
So Harvard was teaching in Latin 300 years ago. If you go back a little over a hundred years, there was no such thing as the business school case study. There was no such thing as the model of how you become a doctor, starting with an internship and a residency, and then becoming a doctor. All that actually came about in sudden change, sudden pivot in the, in the way we matched higher education with the needs of, of the modern moment.
So competency based education, I think is a great recent example. In the last 20 or 30 years, we've realized you know, with, with exemplars like Western Governor University leading the way, you can provide high quality education that's competency based, based on what you know, and give credit for that.
I think this new stage that we're entering into, where the apprenticeship is merging with the college degree. Is a new chapter in higher education, and I think we should think about it that way and be optimistic that it's possible given this history I just laid out.
And the apprenticeship degree. I think has three critical defining differentiating elements from everything you just mentioned. First, like every apprenticeship is affordable without student debt. The learner earns a paycheck from day one through the day of graduation. By the way. Why should anyone go into debt to become a teacher or nurse in a rural community?
Michelle Rathman: Yeah, you're, you're, you're singing my song. I agree with you.
Joe Ross: Right. So the second defining element of an apprenticeship degree is it is based in the workplace from beginning to end.
And it leverages the workplace as the learning place turns a school district into a university campus very intentionally. So that not just children are learning, but adults are learning in an intentional way and 3, it really embraces the idea that you can learn from on the job paired with rigorous courses that typically are in the evenings or on the weekends, credit from work, faculty who are also job embedded like the learners.
Those things coming together are how I distinguish and define the apprenticeship degree from other recent innovations like competency based education and like. Now competency based education can be part of an apprenticeship degree. It doesn't have to be, but it definitely can't be.
But what makes the apprenticeship degree different is affordability, being based in the workplace, and generating credit from work in a way that's not a compromise. It's still a degree. It's not a bachelor's apprenticeship is a bachelor of arts achieved through an apprenticeship.
Michelle Rathman: It's so, it's so enlightening and enriching. I think about if you look at a bricks and mortar, and then if you really understand that this is the work that's happening inside, you know, just how exciting it must be to be witness to that and be participating, and doing something so meaningful that it doesn't just lead, you know, it just doesn't stop when the school year is over that there's just so much potential.
Joe, let's talk a little bit about the Reach Method. I mean, this is something that, you know, I don't, I don't assume our listeners know, but we want them to understand what does it do to help the learner and the employer? Can you just kind of quickly walk us through what that looks like?
Joe Ross: Yeah, so quickly, there's five design standards that we call the Reach Method Approach where the reach method to an apprenticeship degree versus efficiency. Basically, this means half the learning comes from what people are doing on the job. For example, in the school and the other half comes from online seminars or evening courses.
It should feel like one plus one equals one. That the pursuit of a job and the pursuit of a degree are one thing. So efficiency is the first thing. Second is relevance or, or flexibility. I'd say flexibility refers to where you organize the courses, right? So, so are they structured in a way where they're are rigorous courses at a time and place that doesn't require anyone to miss work, commute, or arrange child care to participate in that course. You have
Michelle Rathman: All barriers, right?
Joe Ross: all barriers.
Michelle Rathman: That can be barriers.
Joe Ross: Absolutely. The third element, the reach method is relevance. As I said, so relevance really means making sure that the coursework embraces the workplace as a learning environment. And that, for example, if you learn algebra at the college level, at the same time, you're watching algebra be taught or practicing, teaching it on the job, right? You connect that theory and practice.
By the way, you can do that across fields. You can make John Locke, the philosopher relevant to management training, because John Locke had a theory around property ownership that he talks about in a way that's analogous to project ownership.
And so there's, you know, everything you can do in a college you could do in the workplace without losing rigor. The fourth is affordability right? So affordability, as I said earlier, means at the end that nobody is incurring student debt to get an education, especially in fields like teaching or nursing, where there's such a high rate of vacancy.
Why would we set up a system that encourages student debt? That's, that's, that's not, it doesn't make, it doesn't make sense. It's not necessary. And then finally, the fifth element is professional capital. And this speaks to the idea that at the end of an academic program that's job embedded, there is a job waiting for the learner, if not in the building where they already are in the community where they already serve, and that they've earned that capital, not just for a immediate job for lifelong upward mobility that we speak about when we talk about the American dream.
Michelle Rathman: My gosh, you make my head spin. There's so much good information. And you know, Joe, I mean, I know we don't have time to talk about this episode, but I just wonder what that does for the quality of the education that being provided to the students. Because you've got somebody who not just learning it in their own classroom setting, but then to understand how that's applied to teaching it.
That is fascinating. So let's move over to our next subject, which is this thing you've got called the Oxford Teacher's College. Tell us a little bit about that and then we'll kind of get into, we'll talk about philanthropy because ReachUniversity happens to be a beneficiary of some philanthropic dollars to help you with these programs.
So talk to us about the Oxford Teacher's College first.
Joe Ross: Well, the Oxford Teachers College is the teachers college at Reach University, and we stood it up as a undergraduate college three and a half, four years ago with, I think, a vanguard, brave cohort of 67 paraeducators, mostly in Louisiana. Today, we have 1800 folks working and enrolled in this program, and in Louisiana, there's over 1100 enrolled, which is the same number of estimated vacancies across the state when it comes to teachers.
So our pipeline has already grown to the size of of the shortage. And so there's something very unusual in sight a possible solution to a teacher shortage in a state within reach.
The Oxford name you may wonder about. So we, we believe that the apprenticeship degree is not a compromise, right?
There was a mayor of Bogota, Columbia, who said that the sign of advanced society is not where all the poor people drive cars. It's where all the rich people use public transportation. And when we think about the apprenticeship degree, we think about something with high rigor that could be for everybody, but it's accessible to everybody as well.
And one of the ways we ensure we keep higher education higher, even though there's courses online, and even though it's embedded in the workplace, we keep it higher by embracing something called the Oxford tutorial method. Which is a conversation based discussion based approach to seminar learning, where adult learners learn through conversation with each other and with their faculty member rather than sort of being lectured at and having to do problem sets that are not relevant.
So that's why it's called the Oxford Teachers College and it runs through everything we do across the university.
Michelle Rathman: All right, so now, before we have to take a break, talk to us a little bit about the fact. I know I read that the Reach Institute for School Leadership did receive a grant that the period is ending at the end of May of by the time this drops will be into the month of the end of the month of June.
So talk about that. I understand it was about $600,000 that you received. And let's talk a bit about what that kind of an infusion of resources can do for the great efforts that you put forth.
Joe Ross: Well, this, this grant from Ascendium was specifically focused on engaging community colleges as part of the solution to the teacher shortage in rural, in rural communities. And so, by the way, the Reach Institute is Reach University. It's another name for, for our institution. So Reach University in, in this partnership sought to bring alive the idea that, incredible talent is not just in local rural communities within the school, but also coming out at the local community colleges.
Typically, every county has a community college or one in the next door county and typically a graduate of a community college at some point sought a bachelor's degree. What we sought to prove is that we could turn school districts effectively into transfer institutions. Meaning instead of having to leave home, leave your community, go into debt and attend an institution far away, you could graduate from a local community college.
And then, transfer into a job at a local school that needs to hire a para educator. And then two years later, earn your bachelor's degree and become a teacher. So, with that, we have signed up over a dozen community colleges in partnerships, school districts in communities from, you know, rural Arkansas to rural Louisiana, rural Alabama, rural California are now intentionally recruiting from their local community college and they're calling the jobs, not just jobs, but degree conferring jobs.
So job to degree, para educator, job to degree, cafeteria service professional, job to degree, office. That that's the idea that that grant made possible. And it's so exciting. And I expect to see, or I hope to see the model spread.
Michelle Rathman: Oh, I can't imagine that it won't. We need this change. Joe, before I let you go, I have one more quick question for you. You know, we have, you know, we have a rural superintendent school superintendents listening, rural community colleges listening. I know this. I can confirm it because I do receive notes and and emails and things of that nature.
Is this something where they can reach out to Reach University and say, 'Hey, we are interested in this model.' What, what do you suggest for those who say, I really would like to learn more about this. How do they even get involved with the work that you're doing?
Joe Ross: Well, we're delighted to speak with any rural community leader who's worried about the shortages in schools. And so anyone who's interested should reach out by emailing [email protected]. Feel free also to follow us on LinkedIn and to follow us online. It's easy to find Reach University.
And if you're interested in sort of the larger work around advancing the apprenticeship degree across geographies and industries, Reach University recently stood up the National Center for the Apprenticeship Degree. And you can follow that work and get involved by going to NCAD.org, NCAD.Org.
Michelle Rathman: And don't you worry listeners, because, you know, as I always say, check our resource page and in our post series e-blast, make sure that we include all these links. Joe E. Ross, it's really, really fascinating to learn about your work. We're grateful that you could spend time with us.
Thank you for all that you're doing in your rural impact. As we say, we really appreciate it.
Joe Ross: Michelle, it's such a pleasure to be here. Thank you for having us on the podcast and shedding light on, on this, this work. It's, it's really important to get more people involved so we can solve this problem.
Michelle Rathman: Absolutely. All right. Stay tuned. Don't go anywhere because we are going to continue this Rural Impact conversation. Sit tight. We'll be right back from a break.
Michelle Rathman: Nancy Mondragon, 2024 graduate from Reach University and Arkansas Waldron School District teacher. Welcome to the Rural Impact. I mean it when I say I am. I've been so looking forward to this conversation.
Thank you for joining us.
Nancy Mondragon: I'm happy to be here. Thank you for having me.
Michelle Rathman: Okay, Nancy. So, you recently graduated from Reach University. And we had the opportunity to speak with the head of the university himself, and with your degree in elementary education. So, congratulations on that. That is no small feat to be sure for most people. But that's not where your education career journey started.
So, I, I would say, after reading your story and learning about you, your story is one of resilience. And that's where I would like to start. So could you share a little bit of your background story because it did not begin in education, as I understand it. And you certainly experienced many twists and trials along the way.
So give us a little bit of your background.
Nancy Mondragon: So I was born and raised in San Diego, California, and I got married very young at 20, and we unexpectedly got pregnant. So, being in California, it's hard. You know, you need to be able to provide for your family. So, I went into a vocational school. I had, we were enrolled in college, both me and my husband, when we found out we were pregnant.
So, we dropped out because we needed to work full time jobs that could afford a child. So, I decided to go to vocational school in healthcare. I did nursing for a long time. I worked in pediatric office and then I worked in with a chiropractor. So, I worked in the health field for a long time. And then we moved to Waldron, Arkansas site unseen.
This October will be 10 years. We moved out here. It was a culture shock to say the least because it's a very small rural town. It's very different than San Diego. We moved out here, and I didn't know what I wanted to do when I moved out here. My vocational degree in California was not worth anything in Arkansas.
Like I could not work in the medical field. They told me.
Michelle Rathman: Oh my, yes.
Nancy Mondragon: I had to go back and redo all my medical training and everything. And then they told me that I could maybe, you know, work as a receptionist, but I didn't want to do that, you know, for a long time. I worked really hard to be able to do all these things in California that I couldn't do in Arkansas.
So, I worked for a daycare when I first moved here, I worked for a daycare and I helped my dad. He has a small business, a restaurant. So I worked, I waitressed for a long time for him. And then my son started elementary school and his principal used to come through all the time and just have conversations with me.
And then one day he just, he said, do you wanna come work for me? He's like, I need you. He's like, I need somebody who can translate. So I, I decided, okay, well, you know, we, we had been talking about maybe expanding our family, so we were like, 'oh, this will be great, you know, working on a school schedule will be good for us.'
So I went ahead and I started working for the elementary school as a, the, paraprofessional for their migrant program. It helped all the families that were migrating to Waldron to get additional help so that they could, I translated, I went out to houses. I did, you know, I helped them with a lot of things to get stabilized in our community.
And then they did away with the program because we didn't have enough students. So, they did away with the program and then he kept me on as just a regular paraprofessional. So I had been doing that for the last couple of years until somebody from central office heard about Reach and they said, 'Nancy, you need to get on this. Like, this is the opportunity you've been waiting for.'
So, four years ago, I had just had my daughter in February and in August, I started school full time, working as a paraprofessional at the elementary school, but then I started Reach University as a freshman that August.
Michelle Rathman: Isn't that amazing? Because you are like, you're one of the first. I mean, this is such a special moment cause you are one of the first in your district to utilize Reach University programming. And, you know, I, I think it's kind of reverse the question. It's not that you chose Reach, Reach chose you.
I mean, you were both there. It was right place, right time, you know, right situation for you. And so I wonder if you could talk to us a little bit because people can hear your story and say, 'Oh my gosh. I'm doing that or I want to do that.' But how did this kind of method support you? Because we're looking for pathways to open doors of opportunities for people who are, are not, it's, they don't have access to the traditional method of obtaining their higher education, pursuing a post-secondary education.
So how did it work for you? Could you just, you know, kind of explain how this, that method, helped you reach the, reach, what a good word, where you are today? I'd like to learn about that.
Nancy Mondragon: So, when they first told me about Reach, the first thing I said is I can't do it. I have so many student loans, and I don't know that a lot of people know this, but paraprofessionals in Arkansas don't make. I mean, I'm, I was making at the elementary school under $20,000 a year. You know, that's, I mean, realistically, you can't live off of that.
Well, my first thought was like, I can't, you know, I'm still paying off student loans from when I went to nursing school in California. And when I spoke to Mr. Blake Noel, is who I spoke to. He was who the recruiter was for REACH. When I spoke to him, he said, that was the first thing he, he told me, he was like, do not worry about it.
He's like, we have this system in place where we can help you with financials. He told me right, that was my first before we even got talking. I was like, I can't, I was like, I would love to go back to school, but I can't, you know, I, I can't afford it. I don't have time. I'm working full time.
I can't leave my job. And he assured me that Reach was a program that worked with you, not against you. And it was going to help you, you know, with time management. And they were going to be like, able to, to help just in general with life. So when when I started Reach I was very afraid. I was like, I don't know if I can do this. You know, like I have a newborn at home.
I have, you know I have another child. My husband's working full time. Like he was working nights at the time, and it seemed impossible. And then they, they're not just a school. They're like a family,
Michelle Rathman: Yes. Yeah. I obviously, because, you know, offering job embedded learning, I mean, that is, you know, we, we've had discussions in this particular series about apprenticeships. And, and training is one thing, but what this has done for you is clearly it's, it's been a life changer, a game changer for you. And you're in such high, high demand.
You know, because I, I take a look at I'm going to confess my daughter and my daughter in law, both educators and, and it's, it's really tough. And to your point, working as a paraprofessional, so desperately needed, and yet how do you earn a living to, and be able to make ends meet for your own family? And thankfully there are, there's a lot of philanthropy out there that helps and a policy that helps, you know, support this kind of philanthropy.
Because at the end of the day, teachers leave a lasting impact on their students. And so. You know because our show is the Rural Impact, what do you hope your impact will be long term and not just for those who you are working to teach now, but you know yours can serve as a model. I hate to tell you this you can serve as a model for other people. We should lift up your story. What do you hope that your impact will be as a result of all this opportunity for yourself?
Nancy Mondragon: You know, I tell people all the time working at the at the school for as long as I have as a paraprofessional, I have observed a lot of teachers. And you're right. We need, we need good quality people. And it's not just in the way that they teach, but it's in the in the care that they take with these children. Especially here because we live in a, in a, it's so small this county and it's like, you know, these kids grow up in a home where they have a lot of poverty and a lot of like trauma from just different things.
And it is so important to have somebody who like wants to teach them, but also wants to look out for them. And I hope I hope that that's me. I hope that that I can do that.
Michelle Rathman: Oh gosh. Well, I don't think you have to hope. I think you're there. All right. Now, I'm going to ask you this because, you know, this is something that a district would have to embrace and it in really work to nurture and bring more and more individuals like yourself into the fold and really fill so many of the gaps that we talk about because we have the way clearly we have the way.
So, what is your message to other rural school districts when it comes to expanding their own reach to participate in a program, such as this one? And, you know, what would be the selling points in your mind to get curious and put together the infrastructure because it does take that to take on an initiative such as this.
Nancy Mondragon: When I first started working at the elementary school, the principal that was there at the time, he's passed away, but he told me, he's like, 'I hope that working here lights a fire under you.' He's like, and he said, 'I hope you know that that you will decide to go back to school.' And this was before we heard about Reach.
So when the Reach opportunity came up, I was like, 'this is it, you know, this is what he was talking about.' Because he always said, like, 'I want to grow my own.' Because it's so important to have these people that you already that are already embedded in the school, people that already care, people that are looking out for these students that are wanting to pursue education, because it's not easy to teach.
It's not easy to get into this profession. You know, and there's so much backlash, backlash on teachers all the time. Like you have to be very wary of what, what you say and how you, you handle situations because you never know. You know, and with social media, it's so hard. Like I see social media posts all the time talking bad about these, educators and these things that have happened.
And I feel like if other schools, you know, like our school took took a chance on Reach, and it was new. None of us, we all kind of just went with the flow. We had to talk to each other all the time. Like, I don't know how this works. They didn't know how it worked either. And we worked together. We worked together with Reach to make sure that we got to a place where I could graduate and coming into next year.
You know, I have a position already available that I went ahead and I accepted and it's so important, I feel like, for other schools to take a chance on their paraprofessionals, because they all have paraprofessionals. And they don't know, like, the quality of paraprofessionals they have, the kind of quality of teachers they could become if they just gave them that, that chance. You know, and Reach offers that chance, and Reach has been honestly a godsend for me.
It really has.
Michelle Rathman: You know, it makes me wonder, Nancy, if you can, let me just ask you this. I mean, the kind of putting the two and two together as you just talked about. Yes, it's very difficult for teachers. And I look at places in rural frontier, tribal communities where we, we desperately need to make sure that resources are maintained, that they're sustainable, that we have educators who are not just willing, but excited, you know, to be, to be there in the position to help nurture young minds, you know, that is the goal.
And so I wonder what the impact is that you see on, on just the children and being able to provide you know, the, the mentoring and the, the mentoring part of it, not just about educating children, but mentoring them and giving them, you know, really great role models and things of that nature. Do you see the impact on the children knowing that this program is in place?
What do they know about what's going on and how you arrived with where you are?
Nancy Mondragon: So my kids all knew because I told them and when we had to video lessons. And I let you know my professor who was in charge of she's also the dean who was in charge a of reviewing my videos and giving me feedback on how my lessons went. I used to tell her all the time I said just so you know, I said before we started, they, they told me like, 'we're going to be so good for you, Miss Mondragon, because we love you.'
And so they would, they knew like ahead of time, I was like, we're going to, today's the day we're going to, you know, record this lesson. So be good guys. And I mean, they, they were on their best behavior because they wanted this for me because they knew like at the end of this, I mean, and in their minds, because I worked with kindergartners and first graders, they didn't know that, you know, I'm not, I wasn't a teacher yet, you know, like to them, I was their teacher because I taught them all the things. But I used to tell them, I said, this is important.
This is for school. And they just ate it up. I mean, they loved it. They were like, do you have homework too? And they would ask me questions all the time. I was like, or I pull small groups and be like, 'this is for school. Okay?' And they would get so excited because they would be like, 'wait, just do other people get to hear us and see us?'
I'm like, yes, yes.
Michelle Rathman: how can they not be excited they have you, they have you. Well Nancy, it has truly been an honor to speak with you. I you know, you don't need any luck you have just clearly your future is bright and because of that, others will be too. And I really mean that. We've been so appreciative to hear your story.
I think that matters so much. We do work to connect the dots between policy and philanthropy and all the things that help rural communities thrive. And it's not just. Clearly, I want our listeners to understand what we're talking about here is not just how it impacts Nancy and her family, but her school, the children she's teaching, their parents, and it just spreads.
And so we really appreciate having you here, and I am willing you all the best for your future. Your story is fantastic.
Nancy Mondragon: Thank you.
Michelle Rathman: All right. Well, this wraps up another series of the Rural Impact, and I want to make sure that you remember to go to our website for links to everything that we've talked about here. I really want to thank Ascendium Education for partnering with us to bring you this really important content that helps to make us understand the connections between post-secondary education, economic opportunity.
And not just for individuals, but for communities as well. We hope to see you again back here on a new series of the Rural Impact. It's been great to be with you. Take care of yourself and each other.
Michelle Rathman: My thanks to Nancy and Joe E. Ross for sharing their stories and of course their impact. And I really do want to take this opportunity to give a special thanks to Ascendium for their support of the Rural Impact. With these types of partnerships, we are able to expand conversations, the conversations we're having today about the issues that impact and sometimes impede all rural people from living their best quality of life.
So, thank you Ascendium for your support of the Rural Impact. We truly do appreciate you. As always I want to send out a very special thanks to Brea Corsaro and Sarah Staub. I also want to remind you to check your voter registration, always very important. Follow us on social, share and rate this podcast. We really do appreciate when you do.
It helps others find us and with that, until next time, I always say, and I mean it, take good care of yourself and everyone else around you until the next time on a new episode of the Rural Impact.
