Future teachers share purpose at Fort Lewis College's Spring PEX

DURANGO — What does it mean to become a teacher?

For some, it means inspiring curiosity in every student they meet. For others, it means helping young musicians succeed not just in music, but in life. For others still, it means becoming the educator they wished they'd had growing up.

This spring, Fort Lewis College's Teacher Education Department gathered family, friends, mentors and FLC alumni to celebrate 41 new educators at the annual Professional Exhibition — known as PEX — held under the theme "Passion, Purpose, People." 

The 41 graduates fanned out from Colorado to Alaska, and from Costa Rica to New Zealand, carrying FLC's approach to education into classrooms across the country and around the world. Some worked in rural indigenous communities; others taught in urban middle schools. A few were placed in bilingual and Montessori settings. One taught kindergartners in Costa Rica. Another spent her student teaching semester in Wanaka, New Zealand.

"It's so inspiring to hear students talk about their experiences, and not only how they taught but what they learned," said Chiara Cannella, interim dean of the School of Education. "Something that makes FLC so unique is our connections to communities both near and far."

The event was as much a celebration of the village it takes to train a teacher as it was a showcase of the graduates themselves. Students thanked the districts, teachers, instructional coaches, school administrators and donors who opened their buildings, classrooms and wallets. Scholarship recipients recognized donors including the Maple Scholarship Fund, the Barr Scholarship and the Bonnie Albright Scholarship Fund, among others.

During their introductions, graduates shared what drove them into education and what they learned along the way.

"When students feel seen and cared for, they're ready to learn," said one graduate. "That connection is what drives everything." 

For Durango native Colleen Ward, the path into education was anything but certain. Looking back, though, she said the signs were always there.

"Ever since I was a kid, I used to volunteer at the preschool. I used to go into the kindergarten classroom and help," said Ward, who completed her student teaching at Riverview Elementary. "My grandfather was a teacher. My mom went to school for teaching. My aunt was an educator…. it has always surrounded me."

"I like making people feel welcome, and I like working with kids," she added. "So it seems right."

Moriah Klinekole, who is Quapaw from Oklahoma and Mescalero Apache from New Mexico, earned a bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education with a TESOL minor. She said she almost never ended up at Fort Lewis at all, having applied to a different college before her sister nudged her to give FLC a look.

"My sister encouraged me to apply to Fort Lewis, and that's how I ended up here," said Klinekole, who completed her student teaching in a second grade classroom at her hometown school.

For Klinekole, the program's strength was in how it connected academic content to the whole child. "They taught me how to tie in literacy with really important concepts that students need to learn, like social and emotional learning," she said. "My passion is building strong foundational relationships with students."

The evening included individual presentations, a video introduction from graduates unable to travel to Durango and a reception honoring families and community supporters.