County conference inspiring future educators

If students at the College of Notre Dame had been strolling by the campus auditorium on the morning of March 12, they might have been alarmed by the level of noise emanating from within.

Perhaps a cheerleading competition? Or maybe a second-grade class at recess? The sounds would not have suggested the true occasion, which was the annual systemwide meeting of the Baltimore County Public Schools Future Educators of America.

BCPS Teacher of the Year John Billingslea leads a workshop on the importance of memory in teaching.

“The conference is a celebration of teaching and is designed to help future educators prepare for a career in teaching,” said event coordinator Merry Macer, administrator of the BCPS Office of Equity and Assurance.

More than 270 FEA members from 24 BCPS middle and high schools boarded buses that morning not only to learn more about careers in the education field, but also to demonstrate the importance of bringing fun and creativity to every aspect of teaching and learning.

Teacher of the Year John Billingslea and Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Donald A. Peccia talk about teaching with Willmington Grewe, a student presenter from Pikesville Middle School.

The conference opened with what at first appeared to be a rudimentary roll call to ensure that all schools were in attendance. However, instead of accounting for themselves with the traditional “present,” school representatives all created their own cheers to celebrate their clubs and kick off the meeting with a bang.

After opening ceremonies, FEA members split into random groups for seminars about a many education-related topics. From social issues like bullying to mnemonic tricks to help students remember important information, each discussion, led by BCPS and Maryland State Department of Education employees, taught a valuable lesson for future teachers and mentors.

Students begin to fill the auditorium for the opening of the FEA conference.

Participants lucky enough to draw a session entitled “Take a Nap” learned about the crucial skill of managing stress. To demonstrate one way to deal with the weight of each day’s responsibilities, students focused on relaxing their bodies and letting their imaginations wander to soothing music. As they slipped into a peaceful trance, they began to subconsciously reminisce on issues and events in their lives and often stumbled upon solutions they could not see before in the frantic pace of reality.

Towson High School students Mariah Voelkel and Chris Waddail hold certificates for participating in an FEA essay and poetry competition.

Even middle school students, whose intended career paths often change before graduation, were touched by the sense of fulfillment the presenters found in their jobs. “It sounds really fun and worthwhile to be able to work with children every day,” said Jewel Keller from General John Stricker Middle School in Dundalk. Keller offered these thoughts after emerging from a seminar led by BCPS Teacher of the Year John Billingslea, who teaches at Franklin High School in Reisterstown. His session integrated movement, social interaction, and word association to relate the importance of memory in teaching.

Students returned to the auditorium after attending three different seminars in order to discover and celebrate the winners of essay, scrapbook, and centerpiece contests. Lily Woo from Lansdowne High School won the essay contest at the high school level, accompanied by Samantha Sellers from Franklin Middle School who took first at the middle school level. Chesapeake High School’s beautifully compiled photographs were named best scrapbook, and Lansdowne High School students’ artistic abilities shone in their prize-winning centerpiece.

The centerpiece created by Owings Mill High School FEA members

Mary Brzezinski, visiting FEA coordinator from Howard County Public Schools, was impressed by the student’s efforts at the conference as well as the level of organization displayed by the entire BCPS FEA association. The intense level of dedication coordinators and sponsors put into the program inspires her big plans for future of FEA.

“The things I see here are amazing,” says Brzezinski, “and the networking piece of it is just great.”

Brzezinski and other FEA supporters hope that a regional gathering of FEA chapters will be possible in the near future.

Story and photos by Dani Replogle, senior at Towson High School and intern in the Office of Communications.

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