By Tyler Dahlgren

ESU 9 administrator Drew Harris sat in his office while the Grow Your Own Student Kick-Off event rolled along in the conference room down the hall and issued a forewarning of what we were about to walk into.

“You’ll feel it when you walk in that room,” Harris said. “We have some high-energy people leading things, and they’re just having a lot of fun.”

Then we saw Dr. Katie Soto in action. We listened to Nebraska Teacher of the Year Lindsey Wilson share her message with a room full of high school students eyeing a potential career in education. We witnessed the collaboration and smiles and we heard the laughs. We felt the energy that’s come to define the Grow Your Own program.

Harris was right. No lies detected.

“These are my bucket filler days,” said Soto, a former math teacher who now serves as an instructional coach at ESU 9. “This brings me joy. There’s a lot of work that goes into this program behind-the-scenes, but these days spent with students puts a pep in your step. That's why we do it.”

The teacher shortage is no secret. There’s no use in pretending it doesn’t exist. 

Four years ago, then-ESU 9 professional development director Jackie Ediger (now retired) and professional learning specialist Kristen Slechta (now with Hastings Public Schools) teamed with ESU 6 professional development technology consultant Dr. Lynne Herr to write an educator pipeline grant that came through NDE. After successfully securing funding for two years, they went right to work, bringing Dr. Soto into the fold early on.

“There was a short turnaround after receiving the grant,” said Soto. “We had to ask schools to jump on board while we built the plane and flew it at the same time. We asked them to trust us.”

The team immediately honed in on Educators Rising, a staple in the more populated eastern side of the state with a then-scarce presence in Central Nebraska. The program’s built-in curriculum wasn’t quite feasible financially for the smaller, rural districts that ESU 6 and ESU 9 serve, so the Grow Your Own team decided to create its own.

“We really needed a good, relevant and engaging way to get kids excited about education and to flip the narrative around the profession into something positive,” said Soto, who ran the kick-off event alongside professional learning specialist Shalee Lindsey. “We’ve been so passionate about this, and we’re really fortunate to have received the grant with ESU 6 that allowed us to start this work.”

In just four years, the Grow Your Own program has blossomed into a unique and highly successful program that’s utilized by 30 districts statewide, both big and small. GYO students are eligible for 12 college credits through Wayne State, and nearly 75-percent of the state’s Educators Rising chapters come from the GYO program.

More than 80-percent of the first cohort to graduate last May went on to pursue teaching in college.

“It’s allowed the kids to take a deeper look at what life is like as an educator,” said Kenesaw Public Schools media specialist and education pathway teacher Johnna Burr. “It’s also made them think a little bit more about their future. I’ve had kids that have taken my class that had put little thought into becoming an educator that are now seniors ready to go into education, so that’s awesome.”

Kenesaw even employed a senior as a paraeducator last year. This year, Burr’s district hired two seniors as paras.

“Junior year is the best year to start Course 1, because it’s a three semester program, with a fourth possible if they do the lifestyle development option,” said Soto. “That way, their senior year is when they’re in Course 3 doing that full-on practicum.”

Being Nebraska’s Teacher of the Year has given Wilson an opportunity to speak all across the state. The Bennington Middle School teacher is originally from Iowa and hadn’t been west of Lincoln prior to winning the prestigious award. Meeting with future educators, she said, is especially energizing.

“They just bring a new energy and a new vibe and they’re full of possibilities and ideas of what education could look like in the future,” Wilson said after her presentation. “They’re coming here with fresh ideas that are relevant and meaningful to our next generation. It was so fun getting to spend time with them.”

Two days before the kickoff event in Hastings, which was attended by state senators Dave Murman and Dan Lonowski, ESU 6 held its annual kickoff workshop, drawing more than 60 prospective teachers, members of the State Board of Education and deputy commissioner of education Dr. Jane Stavem.

The day was much more hands-on and interactive than Kenesaw sophomore Lottie Schirmer had anticipated. It was more fun, too.

“It’s nice to see new things and to connect with people from outside our school,” Schirmer, whose love for babysitting piqued her interest in education, said. “I’ve always been big on taking care of people, and I’ve always enjoyed watching over kids and just helping them learn new things. I feel like education is going to give me the opportunity to continue down that path.”

Fellow Kenesaw sophomore Jacee Novotny comes from a family replete with teachers. Growing up, she knew she wanted to help people, but she wasn’t necessarily sure how. Through watching her mom, she decided to give it a try. GYO was the perfect avenue.

“I’m so thankful for this opportunity,” Novotny said. “We know it didn’t exist before, so we’re lucky.”

It’s about opportunity and applied experience. The Grow Your Own program offers both. They’ve sent students to Educators Rising competitions and seen them succeed in a big way. They’ve also seen students who get into the program and realize teaching might not be the right path for them.

Not only is that perfectly fine, explained Soto, but it’s one of the many perks of the program.

“We want them to come out of this experience saying either one of two things,” said Soto. “Either ‘Education is so awesome and I’m so excited to pursue this.’ Or, ‘Hey, this might not be for me.’ We’d rather have them learn that now in high school before going to college and spending a lot of money on something they’re not going to pursue.”

Four years ago, the Grow Your Own Education Pathway was an idea that hadn’t been fully hatched. Now, it’s a statewide initiative that Nebraska should be proud of. A proactive approach to mitigating the teacher shortage and an investment in the youth of our state.

“We were just trying to make this applicable so that anybody could do it,” said Harris. “There is such a need.”

Where there’s a need, there’s a way. 

Grow Your Own is the shining light helping young Nebraskans find their path, and it starts right here.