As part of the national Educators Rising program, Phoenixville Area High School is training its students to become teachers, writes Maddie Hanna for The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

The program aims to prepare future teachers while they are still in high school with the hope that they will join a career that has been suffering major shortages for years. 

“Having some exposure to the realness of what teaching is, so early on — that will help,” said Brittney Ehrenzeller, who teaches the Educators Rising class at Phoenixville. 

Ehrenzeller originally started the program as an after-school club. Only four students were present for the initial meeting. A year later, the club had grown to almost 40 students, which prompted the school to add an Educators Rising class this year, with 17 enrolled students. 

The program follows a “grow-your-own” model, which focuses on having schools train their own students as future teachers. Educators Rising launched in 2015 and unlike some other programs, it is nationalized and has a curriculum that is available for purchase. The program also offers state and national competitions for students. 

Read more about the Educators Rising program at Phoenixville in The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

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