Commitment to Recruit, Educate, and Assist Teachers in Equity (CREATE)

Mentorship

Faculty mentor: As a scholar, you will be able to select either a STEM professor or an education professor as a mentor. CREATE scholars will meet individually with their faculty mentor at least once each semester, and more often if you need it. In these meetings, your mentor can help you select courses for the following year, prepare for the job market, and review challenging course content as needed. Scholars will submit mid-semester grade reports to their faculty mentor to ensure they can provide academic assistance if needed with study skills and access to tutors, instructor communication, and non-academic support.

Alumnus/a mentor: CREATE scholars will be matched with a STEM/Education NC alumnus/a by STEM discipline and proximity, who have at least four years of teaching experience. Scholars will be expected to email their mentor monthly and visit their mentor’s classroom annually. This relationship will give you a better understanding of STEM teaching in local high schools, will introduce you to potential future colleagues, and will allow you to see content in action.

Making a solid start

Summer orientation program for new scholars (especially recommended for transfer students new to NC): This is designed to be a fun one-week long immersion camp occurring in August before the semester starts, capped at eight students per year. You will receive a stipend for attending this. During this time, we will work on team-building by exploring campus together, including meeting with staff at the Center for Student Success, Center for Career Development, and Student Health and Wellness. We will spend time discussing academic skills such as time management, how to use faculty as resources, classroom and lab expectations, etc. to help you to continue to thrive. 

You will also engage in authentic research with STEM faculty and citizen science as a form of community-engaged experiential learning. We may even sneak in a fun field trip to the Field Museum. And, you will get a chance to meet your alumni mentors (current classroom teachers) and get to spend one day shadowing them in their classrooms as they prepare for the academic year before students arrive.

Monthly cohort meetings

Wellness and Wellbeing: You will have the opportunity to attend faculty led programming specifically focused on your wellness and wellbeing to build capacity for resilience for the profession. Our hope is that will help prepare you as preservice teachers to not just persist through your degree program but throughout your career.

Equity: You will have an opportunity to engage in a series of equity-centered modules, outside of coursework, to focus on different aspects of equity in STEM education. Specific topics will include positionality and identity development; defining and understanding oppression; social and cultural capital; critical literacy; understanding social identities and oppression; abolitionist teaching and restorative justice, teaching across cultural strengths, and youth participatory action research.

Movie club: Once every academic year, we will meet to watch a movie featuring STEM and follow that up with a discussion.

Other opportunities

Summer Research, Hands-On Content Learning: It is important for preservice teachers to be exposed to common disciplinary practices in their fields of study if they are going to be effective at engaging their students in standard scientific practices. NC offers paid opportunities for summer research through the Summer Undergraduate scholarship Program (SUSP). In a similar vein, CREATE scholars will have access to additional funding through our grant to apply to conduct research in the labs of STEM faculty members. 

Support in State-Required Licensure Exams: To support equitable access to licensure, candidates will have required licensing exams paid for by CREATE. This includes the Illinois Content Area Test and any teacher performance assessment. 

Attend Noyce conferences: Two scholars will be invited to attend the annual Noyce conference in DC. In addition, there may be opportunities to attend regional Noyce conferences.

Cohort gatherings and induction mentoring

We will provide continued support to you during your first two years of teaching including monthly check-in emails, sharing of instructional materials and NC news, and cohort gatherings at least once a semester to discuss topics you choose. Possibilities include book clubs, on-campus speakers, visits to each other’s schools, professional conferences, or casual meals to check in and share successes and challenges. 

Summer retreat

We will host a one-day retreat over the summer for CREATE alumni that spans across cohorts to maintain the community of cohorts. The summer retreat will allow for more focused time together as a community – we will have time to reflect after the busy school year about what did or did not work. We hope that the retreat will allow you to think through difficult questions with community and mentorship support so that you feel prepared moving forward into the next year. Last, but definitely not least, the retreat will allow for rejuvenation. We hope to focus on how you have been able to use the strategies you developed here to promote self-care and wellbeing, and any ideas you have for changing your approach for the upcoming school year to improve your general wellness. 

How to Apply

Current NCC sophomores:

1. Attend an information session on CREATE to be held on campus. Reach out to Dr. Kempinger for information on the sessions to be held.
2. Submit CREATE scholarship application materials through the Academic Works scholarship portal once that opens mid-Fall with a deadline of April 1st.
3. Submit your FAFSA (school code: 001734).
4. Receive CREATE scholarship decision by April 15th. 
5. Receive a complete financial aid award package, outlining all awarded scholarships.

Transfer students planning to transfer to NCC and double major in Secondary Education (BA) and Biology Education (BS), Chemistry Education (BS), Environmental Science Education (BS), Math (BA), or Physics Education (BS),

1. Attend an information session on CREATE at North Central. Such sessions will also be held at Elgin Community College, and Streamwood High School (Elgin U-46). Reach out to Dr. Kempinger for information on the sessions to be held at NCC, and Dr. Mitra for more information on sessions at ECC or SHS.
2. Apply to and be accepted to North Central College. Apply to North Central for admission here. You can also schedule a campus visit. 
3. Receive North Central’s admission decision. 
4. Submit CREATE scholarship application materials through the Academic Works scholarship portal (if you miss the deadline, reach out to Dr. Mitra ASAP).
5. Submit your FAFSA (school code: 001734).
6. Receive CREATE scholarship decision by April 15th. 
7. Receive a complete financial aid award package, outlining all awarded scholarships.

Questions?

If you have any questions about CREATE, please feel free to contact Drs. Lindsay Wexler, Associate Professor of Education (ljwexler@noctrl.edu), Susan Kempinger, Assistant Professor of Physics (sekempinger@noctrl.edu), or Chandreyee Mitra, Associate Professor of Biology (cmitra@noctrl.edu).