Each May, Teacher Appreciation Week is a time to reflect on the great things that educators do for students in their classrooms — and for others across their community.
At VyStar Credit Union, nobody knows more about the importance of teachers than Michael Rathjen, our Vice President of School Programs. Michael works closely with students and teachers through our VyStar Academy of Business High School Branch Program, which now has 18 branches across many of the communities we serve.
Since the High School Branch Program was started in 2006, VyStar has delivered education training to over 90,000 students, including over 1,500 paid student internships. Additionally, more than 60 student interns have gone on to be hired full time at VyStar. None of that would be possible without teachers who support their students and schools every day.
Michael recently sat down to answer some questions about why teachers deserve our appreciation.
Q: What role do teachers play in our VyStar Academy of Business High School Branch Program and how do you interact with them?
A: The highly talented teachers we get the opportunity of partnering with are critical to the success of our program. Our teachers serve as the hub of information and inspiration for our interns. We work directly with our teachers on a regular basis to carry out the objectives of our partnership with the respective school district. In addition to providing overall supervision of student interns while working within the school’s credit union branch, our teachers are responsible for identifying and creating teachable moments as they relate to the school’s program curriculum. In the scope of supervising academy students, our teachers are trained to become familiar with VyStar’s processes to provide general guidance to our student interns and to become familiar with the credit union philosophy of “people helping people” to ensure high quality member service is being provided on a consistent basis. Teachers are also encouraged to support VyStar’s purpose of Do Good and to exhibit our core value of Lead by Example.
Q: How did your appreciation for teachers change when you first started working with our high school branches?
A: As a former associate teacher for a VPK program, I’d like to think that I’ve always had a high level of appreciation for teachers prior to receiving the honor of overseeing our program. However, my appreciation was elevated to a whole new level once I began working side-by-side with our teachers supporting our VyStar Academy of Business High School Program.
Teachers not only need to become content experts depending on what they’re assigned to teach, which can change each year, but they also need to remain empathetic to the needs of their students. Not only does each student have their own personality, but each classroom will tend to have its own dynamic as well, requiring teachers to constantly adapt their communication and connection style. Outside of technical content, the amount of emotional energy a true educator invests into their students is far beyond what most people are aware of or capable of.
Q: What do you think are some of the biggest challenges teachers face on a regular basis that aren’t common knowledge outside the teaching community?
A: Aside from bathroom breaks, the biggest challenge I believe teachers face is having to stay the course despite all of the external factors that impact their expectations, which in turn have an impact on student learning outcomes. Not only do changes in department, district or statewide leadership affect what the new expectations will be for our teachers, but things like social issues and culture challenges also become front-and-center in today’s classroom. Teachers used to compete primarily for a child’s attention as they taught content. Now they are faced with navigating the needs around social and emotional learning challenges, and they are having to teacher coping skills for things like anxiety, stress, trauma, anger and more. Still, they find a way to connect with their students and make a difference every day.
The content provided in this blog consists of the opinions and ideas of the author alone and should be used for informational purposes only. VyStar Credit Union disclaims any liability for decisions you make based on the information provided.