Liberty’s Educators Rising had the opportunity to go to St. Louis University on Oct. 24 to learn about EdRising competitions, do skill-building, take a campus tour, and had an opportunity for round table discussions with professionals holding jobs in different fields of education.

On the campus, the club started at the main, which is the center for global citizenship.

There was a keynote speaker named Cotreena Jones, who is the finalist for the 2023 Missouri teacher of the year, along with two seniors in the early childhood class at SLU.

Sophomore Kyla Linck, who wants to become a pediatric surgeon, says her experience while being at SLU was great.

“It was really entertaining. I really liked learning about everything the club had to offer as well as learning about skills I can use in the future,” Linck said.

While at the university, Linck’s favorite part was making posters for the competition. If she were to compete, she would compete in the children’s literature competition, making the children’s book for Pre-K.

When the speakers were talking, Linck enjoyed how they would all have a different story about the club and how to act at a competition.

“I liked when they talked about the fears they had before becoming a teacher and how they got past it,” Linck said.

When Cotreena Jones was talking about her story and her purpose of becoming a teacher, Linck found what she said about her identity and the lack of support she faced just because of the color of her skin. She went on to explain how the diversity and hate she faced was very inspirational, because no matter what challenges got in the way, she got to do what she loved.

“She was talking about feeling out of place with what the world was becoming and I thought there was a lot to learn from that because she was right,” Linck said.

Caytlin Scott is a sophomore at Liberty who wants to be a teacher. Scott really enjoyed her experience while being at the university. As Jones was talking, Scott found what she said really inspirational because the teacher of the year talked about how no matter what she faced, she got to help students that were struggling with the same issue.

Scott really enjoyed the experience she had on the field trip. Her favorite part of it all was how interactive everything was.

“We barely sat down, it was mostly meeting new people and working with everyone,” Scott said.

Scott also enjoyed the cafeteria and how she got to eat like a college student for the day.

“My favorite part was probably the dining experience. I thought it was really cool and how they had so many different food options,” Scott commented.

If Scott could compete in a competition, she would. She would choose to be in Orlando, Fla. for the experience.