Conference aims to lead minority students toward teaching

More than 400 high schoolers, mostly minorities, are expected March 18 on the campus of Roberts Wesleyan College, where they will contemplate furthering their education as teachers.

Roberts Wesleyan will host the third annual "Think About Teaching" conference, where current teachers, administrators and higher education professionals will try to convince minority students to help solve an ongoing problem in elementary and secondary schools: the underrepresentation of minority educators.

"While close to one-third of the students in our area come from minority families, only 5 percent of their teachers do," said Chris Manaseri, superintendent at Wheatland-Chili Central School District and chair of this year's event. "We have a teacher shortage looming, but our local colleges and universities are not seeing students of color choosing teacher education program. We hope the Think About Teaching program will be a long-term solution to this problem," he added.

The conference is organized through Monroe I BOCES' Urban-Suburban Governance Board and supported by a network of BOCES affiliates and volunteers. Conference attendees will come from 30 high schools in Monroe and surrounding counties for the day-long program including breakout sessions, a college fair, campus tours, and a keynote address from nationally known guest speaker William C. Parker, a former teacher, coach, college professor and school and college administrator. Parker is the retired vice chancellor of the University of Kentucky and current president of Parker & Parker Associates.

For information, call Manaseri at 585-889-6246.