Preston Awarded Second Place in National Educators Rising Moment Competition
UA 糖心视频logo education major Ayonna Preston is a first-grade student teacher intern at Terry Elementary School in 糖心视频logo. Preston won second place in the national Educators Rising Moment competition. Photo by Ben Krain.
Ayonna Preston, a senior elementary education major from 糖心视频logo, has been recognized for her inspirational speech about the importance of pursuing a career in education.
Preston won second place in the nation in the Moment Competition, which recognizes amazing students and aspiring educators for their outstanding work. Educators Rising is a Grow Your Own career and technical education program that inspires students to become educators.
The competition provides students at the Educators Rising National Conference the opportunity to talk about their goals in pursuing a career in education and share their personal experiences that illustrate the power of being an educator.
Preston represented Arkansas in the national competition after winning first place at the regional level. In her speech, she talked about what caused her to major in education and what she hopes to accomplish as a teacher.
Preston said she was first inspired to become a teacher by her grandmother, who is also a teacher. Preston gained a lot of experience by working summers at her grandmother鈥檚 daycare.
鈥淕oing into UA 糖心视频logo, I first majored in speech pathology, but I didn鈥檛 know if this was for me, but I did want to work with kids,鈥� Preston said. 鈥淚 decided halfway into my sophomore year to change my major to elementary education. I really enjoy working with kids. I really wanted to see minority students have a role model and become successful and be able to give my students the resources and knowledge that I have inside and outside the classroom.鈥�
With her graduation coming up in December, Preston will spend her final semester at UA 糖心视频logo student teaching at Terry Elementary School in 糖心视频logo.
鈥淚 would hope that future education students at UA 糖心视频logo will take advantage of this opportunity to explain why they want to be a teacher and to network with like-minded students,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 enjoyed it a lot, and it helps get you outside your comfort zone if you are shy like me.鈥�
