High school seniors spent a week on the IU Bloomington campus, where they immersed themselves in learning more about college life - and learned more about becoming a teacher.

The Factor Future Educator program gave rising high school seniors a chance to engage with IU School of Education faculty and leadership, attend various information sessions on topics like admissions and financial aid, and join mini-workshops focused on teacher education subjects such as motivating students, classroom management, and technology integration in the classroom, among other topics.

The program was meant to show high school students interested in education that they can be successful in college and their careers as teachers, counselors, or student services professionals, as well as provide them with a glimpse into college life with the hope of easing and improving their successful transition from high school to college.

“The future educators seemed excited and hopeful, many exchanged information with the hopes of seeing each other again as freshmen at IU next fall,” said Assistant Dean Carl Darnell. “I think the program went swimmingly, students were exposed to college life, met faculty and administrators, connected with staff in scholarship programs, and had a good time with one another.”

The program was thanks to a generous donation from Sari and Phil Factor, with Sari adding, “It was gratifying to see our vision to build a pipeline of future educators come to life. We hope that the enthusiastic response from the participants means we'll see many of the students at IU next year."