My Student Experience: We Teach for NC Trips Immerse Students in Education Across North Carolina
Where do you want to teach? With 115 public school districts stretched across North Carolina, it’s not always an easy question for a future educator to answer. That’s why the College of Education offers We Teach for NC trips, which allow students to experience education throughout the state.
“They have a choice in how their career unfolds based on what kind of school they want to teach at, based on their own values and needs,” said Lindsey Hubbard, the college’s director of Outreach and Strategic Partnerships. “That’s really what I hope they get out of the trips.”
This spring, College Education students were able to travel to schools in eastern and western North Carolina through two separate We Teach for NC trips, one to Pitt County in February and the other to Cherokee and Alamance County in March, where they not only visited classrooms and met with administrators but also had a chance to experience what it’s like to be part of those communities.
“You can’t teach in a community without knowing what the community is like,” said Kendall Mick, an elementary education major who serves as an outreach intern and went on both trips. “That’s what I tell all my fellow students when I try to advocate for these trips.”
The We Teach trips grew out of the We Teach for NC spring break, and this spring was the first semester with multiple trips under the We Teach umbrella. Thanks to donor support, students do not have to pay for these experiences, and Hubbard’s goal is to increase the number of trips offered each semester going forward.
“I hope students see that North Carolina is huge and that there’s so much cultural and historical relevance to education in our state,” Hubbard said. “As a land-grant institution, I hope that our students are finding ways to engage beyond their own identities and communities.”
Pitt County
After an early morning drive to eastern North Carolina, followed by classroom rotations at Bethel School and Wellcome Middle School, the students who went on the We Teach trip to Pitt County were ready for lunch.
Not only were they looking forward to their Chipotle, which was waiting for them at Pitt County Schools’ Kathy Taft Center for Excellence and Leadership in Education, but they were also excited for the chance to meet Pitt County Schools Superintendent Steve Lassiter Jr. ’19EDD and Rachel Candaso, the 2025 Burroughs Wellcome Fund North Carolina Teacher of the Year.
“I’ve never met with a superintendent before,” Mick said.
In her presentation, Candaso emphasized the professional development that the school district provides its educators and explained why she loves teaching in Pitt County.
“She had so much joy about the profession,” said Nina Susann, an applied education studies major.
After lunch, the students strapped on their safety goggles and toured Grady-White Boats, a common field trip destination for Pitt County students, and the next day, they visited the Emerge Gallery & Art Center in downtown Greenville.
“It was cool to get to know more about the community and what they offer,” Susann said. “And I bought a lot of stuff at that art shop.”
The students also gave back to Pitt County students by volunteering to pack supplies, including take-home lessons, for the United Way’s Early Grade Student Success Academy, which supports struggling readers.
“It was an opportunity for our students to build connections and see themselves as more than just a teacher in some other community but a member of the community,” Hubbard said.
Cherokee and Alamance County
When Eduardo Nolasco-Barrales, a technology, engineering, and design education major, learned about the Cherokee language in his linguistics and culture class, he never imagined he would have the opportunity to see it taught in person. But that’s exactly what happened on the We Teach trip to western North Carolina, which began with a visit to Cherokee Central Schools.
“It was interesting to see what I learned, while actually being in the community,” he said.
The Cherokee Central Schools campus, which is located on the Qualla Boundary, houses an elementary, middle and high school, and Craig Barker, the principal of the high school, arranged for students to visit classrooms and tour the facilities, including an auto shop with an electric truck for students to work on, an esports lounge, a wood carving suite and an arts studio.
“The school was absolutely amazing,” Mick said. “It was really interesting to see how they incorporated their culture into the education system, having basket weaving and wood carving and the Cherokee language.”
Afterward, the students visited the Museum of the Cherokee People, which Bob Blankenship ’60, the NC State College of Education’s 2024 Distinguished Alumnus, was instrumental in creating, before heading to Alamance County the following day.
There, they toured Eastlawn Global Elementary, a dual-language immersion school, where Principal Syeda Smith-Williams arranged for each student to spend the whole day in a classroom working with a teacher and gaining real-time exposure to dual language programs.
“Having a teacher with me, it was helpful to see how she conducted the classroom,” Nolasco-Barrales said.
Nolasco-Barrales said seeing the unique educational environments in Cherokee and Alamance County has given him a better idea of what to look for when he enters the classroom.
“When you’re becoming a teacher, and you’re selecting a school to teach that, it’s also important to know the community and the support you’ll have,” said Nolasco-Barrales. “That’s an important thing that I learned during the trip.”
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