Information session will detail Saint Martin’s one-year
program for becoming certified Washington teacher
March 2, 2011
LACEY, WASHINGTON — The final information session this year
for Saint Martin’s University’s Secondary Teacher Alternate
Route Program (STAR), an intensive one-year program that
prepares working professionals to teach in Washington state
middle schools and high schools, will be March 7. The session
will be at 6:30 p.m. at the University’s Norman Worthington
Conference Center, 5300 Pacific Ave. SE, Lacey.
Saint Martin’s University has begun accepting applications
for the cohort-style program. Individuals accepted to the
program will start classes this June.
Designed for individuals who already have an undergraduate
degree from an accredited college or university and at least one
year of professional work experience, the program provides an
efficient, streamlined method to begin a teaching career in the
state, says STAR Program Director Ann Gentle, Ph.D. Gentle is a
faculty member in the University’s College of Education and
Professional Psychology.
“Students enter the STAR Program equipped with valuable
professional experience, eager to take on the challenges of
teaching,” she said. “After just one year, they are ready to
enter the classroom with teacher certification and two
endorsement areas.”
Information sessions will address entry requirements, program
details, required classes and internships, financial information
and Washington’s teacher certification process.
Pending legislative decisions, conditional loan scholarships
of up to $8,000 may be available to those participants who elect
to work in an academic area designated as “high needs” by the
state government. These often include subjects such as math,
science, special education or English language learner (ELL),
where qualified teachers are in short supply, Gentle said.
Saint Martin’s University is an independent four-year,
Catholic, coeducational university located on a 380-acre wooded
campus in Lacey, Washington. Established in 1895 by the Catholic
Order of Saint Benedict, the University is one of 18 Benedictine
colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, and
the only one west of the Rocky Mountains. Saint Martin’s
University prepares students for successful lives through its 22
majors and six graduate programs spanning the liberal arts,
business, education, and engineering. Saint Martin’s welcomes
1,250 students from many ethnic and religious backgrounds to its
main campus, and 650 more to its extension campuses located at
Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Everett College, Centralia College and
Tacoma Community College.
For further information:
Ann Gentle, Ph.D.
College of Education and Professional Psychology
360-438-4566
agentle@stmartin.edu.
Jennifer Fellinger
Vice President, Marketing and Communications
360-438-4332
jfellinger@stmartin.edu
www.stmartin.edu