District Residency Connections Fair
On October 13th, 2022 Wyoming School-University Partnership (WSUP) and School of Teacher
Education (STE) held an inaugural District Residency Connections Fair. The fair was
designed to connect education majors, future student teachers, and other College of
Education students with rural districts around Wyoming in an effort to give students
a window into each respective district’s offerings as it pertains to future residencies.
Since this was the first year of District Residency Connections Fair there were limited
spaces open to districts as a way to test district interest and student engagement.
The inaugural connections fair hosted a total of 8 districts: Big Horn #1, Converse
#1, Fremont #14, Fremont #25, Laramie #2, Lincoln #1 Niobrara #1, Sublette #9 and
was attended by more than 50 College of Education students of varying majors. Because
of the positive generated by both student and district involvement, WSUP and STE are
planning to host the District Residency Connections Fair on an annual basis during
the fall semester. This event will stand alone and will not take the place of the
annual spring Student Teacher Fair.
After the event, students were asked to take a short survey to provide feedback pertaining
to the event. In this survey students highlighted some various concerns associated
with doing a residency in more rural districts. Deterrents such as: being far from
family, lack of housing, and childcare were all potential concerns expressed in the
survey. Students who responded to the survey, however, overwhelmingly enjoyed the
event and stated they would like to see more events like this in the future, so they
can learn more about Wyoming school districts and what they have to offer.
If you are a district who would like to participate in this event next fall please
contact
Elizabeth McMahan at
emcmaha2@uwyo.edu or
Sarah Rundall at
sarahla@uwyo.edu.