SRU alumni prepared to start teaching careers around the world

Oct. 7, 2024

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - Laura Jasinski came to Slippery Rock University to study elementary education and Spanish, but instead of teaching children a foreign language in the United States, she is now teaching English to kids in Spain. Jasinski is one of more than 15 recent SRU alumni who have taught abroad in the last year and, like many, the opportunity was realized from experiences she had as a college student.

Before graduating from SRU in 2020 with degrees in early childhood education and Spanish, Jasinski studied abroad in Spain at the University of Alcala in the summer of 2018.

"As soon as I came home from studying abroad when I was at SRU, I was like, 'I have to go back to Spain,'" Jasinski said. "I love the experience."

SRU has partnerships with international schools in which students earn credits at the host institution for a semester or two that are applied to their SRU degree. Additionally, more than 20 education majors fulfilled their student-teaching requirement at public schools in Spain last year, where they also took an Introduction to the Spanish Education System course at the University of Alcala.

"SRU stands apart from other universities because we are able to offer these novel experiences and opportunities," said Sara Tours, associate professor of elementary and early childhood education, who is the College of Education's international coordinator. "Our students are hungry to know more about education, not just the United States but within all cultural contexts. They learn that there's not just one way to teach a child and that really helps them in the classroom when there are diverse students and they can try different approaches. Having that in their back pocket is so vital in today's classrooms."

After graduating from SRU, Jasinski returned to the University of Alcala to earn a master's degree and worked at a public school in Alcala for a year. She is now a teacher at the American School of Madrid.

"I was not anticipating still being here," said Jasinski, a native of Fairview who returns to Pennsylvania in the summer months but is now a Spanish resident after she was hired last spring. "My plan was to do the master's program for a year and be a language assistant at a bilingual school for another year and then be done. But toward the end of my second year, I didn't want to leave, and I fell in love with the culture and my host family, and I became proficient in Spanish. So, I applied for teaching jobs, which is very difficult to do because they are hard to get, but I was fortunate to get an offer."

Jasinski credits her experience at SRU and the education program's focus on getting students early field experience.

"SRU prepares you very well for the real world," Jasinski said. "I love the focus on projects and presentations, but especially going out into the schools. Now that I've become a teacher, I've learned what matters most is doing the work instead of having theory drilled into you. The thing that I like most about Slippery Rock is starting sophomore year you are out in schools doing observations and that was really beneficial for me. The first time you walk into a classroom as a student teacher, you've had plenty of experiences and exposure."

In recent decades, SRU has placed student teachers in Mexico and Ireland and, after international travel resumed following the COVID-19 pandemic, the program was restructured under Tours' direction with a focus on Spain. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, when rules prevented travel aboard, students like Grace Majestic, '22, and Hannah McKenna, '22, were able to teach international students virtually through a partnership SRU made with Kara4Kids, a system of preschools in India.

Once the restrictions were lifted, Majestic traveled to London on a faculty-led spring break study abroad program through SRU. McKenna, who spent a year in Spain as an exchange student while in high school, spent a summer studying at the University of Alcala.

After graduating from SRU in early childhood and special education, Majestic earned her master's degree at the University of Limerick in Ireland, where she taught English to Ukrainians who were displaced from the conflict in their country. She then accepted a teaching job at the Megyeri School in Budapest, Hungary, teaching English to fourth graders as part of a new bilingual program.

"That was a really validating experience for me because I got to work with the Hungarian co-teachers who didn't speak English very well," Majestic said. "I had to be flexible and adaptable while picking up on just social cues. Even though we had a language barrier, the relationships I had were really special and being there for my students was meaningful."

A native of Canonsburg, Majestic chose to leave Hungary after one year to take a job teaching third grade this year in Arlington, Virginia.

"I'm grateful for my time teaching abroad and it has easily been the best two years of my life," Majestic said. "Being abroad and away from family is a sacrifice, but I'm really happy to take parts of what I learned in the different teaching styles and implement them into mine. It was just a really good learning experience to see what schools are like abroad."

McKenna is her second year as a first-grade teacher at the John F. Kennedy, The American School of Querétaro in Mexico, which offers students of several nationalities and cultures a bilingual education. The school provides housing for international teachers, and she said she has settled in and found her people, both natives and fellow expatriates.

"It's a unique opportunity and it' been amazing," McKenna said. "I've learned so much about culture and children and it's changed my worldview. Being someone from western Pennsylvania, we don't realize how big the world is."

A native of Beaver Falls, McKenna plans to pursue a master's degree and continue teaching abroad for a few years before returning to Pennsylvania.

"I'm grateful to have been given the opportunity learn about cultural inclusion at SRU and I'm extraordinarily more prepared for what I'm doing now because of that," McKenna said.

More information about teacher education programs at SRU is available on the College of Education webpage. More information about study abroad programs is also available on the SRU website.

MEDIA CONTACT: Justin Zackal | 724.738.4854  | [email protected]