WEST CHESTER, PA — Thirteen incoming West Chester University education majors have committed to returning to their home school districts as teachers through a university program designed to address Pennsylvania’s teacher shortage.
Seven of the students signed commitment declarations during an annual ceremony Thursday at the West Chester University Foundation, marking their participation in the university’s Partnering in Raising Inclusive, Zealous Educators, or PRIZE, program.
The initiative, launched in January 2023 by College of Education and Social Work Dean Desha Williams, uses a “grow-your-own” model that recruits high school students interested in teaching, prepares them as education majors at West Chester University and places them back in participating school districts after graduation.
Students participating in Thursday’s ceremony included Gianna Hartnett, Abigail McCarthy, Ava McEvoy and Ava Spicer from the Colonial School District; Kiersten Keyes from the Avon Grove School District; and Penelope Rhodes and Azucena Zavala Guerrero from the Kennett Consolidated School District.
Additional participants in the program include Alliman Arjun and Phoebe Balkiewicz from Colonial; Abigail Domnisch, Aurielys Santiago Perez and Emily Torres-Zavala from Kennett Consolidated; and Bryant Botchick from Avon Grove.
The signing ceremony was attended by 12 rising high school seniors participating in the PRIZE Summer Teacher Academy, a weeklong on-campus program that allows students interested in education careers to take a one-credit education technology course and receive mentorship from current WCU education majors.
Faith Bullen, a music education major and one of the inaugural Summer Teacher Academy participants, said the program provided early exposure to college-level education coursework and created a support system for future teachers.
Bullen said the program also eases the transition into teaching by placing student teachers in their home districts and giving participants “the chance to do something bigger than yourself … to combat the teacher shortage in Pennsylvania.”
The PRIZE program currently partners with 13 school systems: Avon Grove, Chichester, Chester-Upland, Coatesville Area, Colonial, Commonwealth Charter Academy, Kennett Consolidated, New Hope-Solebury, Oxford Area, Rose Tree Media, the School District of Philadelphia, Southeast Delco and Susquehanna Township.
High school dual-enrollment participants for the 2026-27 academic year continue to be admitted on a rolling basis.
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