Saint Martin’s offers info sessions for professionals
interested in becoming teachers
December 2, 2011
LACEY, WASHINGTON—An information session for the Saint
Martin’s University Secondary Teacher Alternate Route Program
(STAR)—an intensive one-year course of study that prepares
working professionals to teach in Washington state middle
schools and high schools—will take place Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011,
on the University’s Lacey campus. Three additional information
sessions are scheduled for 2012: Tuesday, Jan. 17; Thursday,
Feb. 23; and Tuesday, March 13. Free and open to the public, all
sessions start at 6:30 p.m. at the University’s Norman
Worthington Conference Center, 5300 Pacific Ave. SE, Lacey,
Washington.
The STAR program, designed for individuals who already have
an undergraduate degree from an accredited college or
university, provides an efficient means to switch to a teaching
career, says Ann Gentle, Ph.D., STAR program director and
faculty member in the University’s College of Education and
Professional Psychology.
“Students bring valuable professional skills and experience
to the program,” explains Gentle. “After only one academic year,
they are ready to enter the classroom with teacher certification
and two endorsement areas for teaching here in Washington
state.”
Information sessions will address entry requirements, program
details, required classes and internships, financial information
and Washington’s teacher certification process.
The University will begin accepting applications for the
cohort-style program in January. Individuals accepted will start
classes in June 2012.
Pending state legislative decisions, conditional loan
scholarships may be available to STAR graduates who elect to
work in “high needs” academic areas, which include math,
science, special education or English language learner (ELL),
Gentle says.
For more details about the STAR program or the upcoming
information sessions, contact Gentle at
agentle@stmartin.edu
or 360-438-4566.
Saint Martin’s University is an independent four-year,
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 14 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 21 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. Visit the Saint Martin’s University
website at www.stmartin.edu.
For additional information:
Ann Gentle
Director, secondary teacher alternate route program (STAR)
College of Education and Professional Psychology
360-438-4566
agentle@stmartin.edu
www.stmartin.edu/education
Sarah Holdener
Director of community relations and event management
Office of Marketing and Communications
Saint Martin’s University
360-412-6140
sholdener@stmartin.edu