Tower-Fall-2018

20 TOWER | FALL 2018 IN DEMAND KU students graduating from the program are in high-demand in the job market. “75 percent of student teachers have job offers prior to graduation and have received funding to attend graduate school,” Johnson said. Every day, Johnson fields email from such locales as the Arizona State School for the Deaf and the Blind looking for prospective graduates to employ. Part of that may be due to the extensive experience students gain while in the program, including spending half of a semester during their sophomore year working at the Overbrook School for the Blind in Philadelphia. Many students also work with a KU summer camp program offered to middle school students who are blind in Pennsylvania. AFTER SCHOOL Upon graduation, if not continuing on to graduate school, most students work at either a traditional school helping blind students, or travel school-to-school doing the same. Many also find jobs working with specialized schools for the blind. Karyn Goldman ’98 of Northampton, Pa. works for Allentown School District as a teacher of the visually impaired (TVI), and has for 18 years. “I was the onlyTVI in the district for 16 years, and they finally hired another person to share the caseload two years ago. When I went to Kutztown, I graduated with a dual certificate in elementary education and teaching of the visually impaired,” Goldman said. “So, I’m doing exactly what my degree covered and more. My students are K–12 and have ranged from gifted to regular education, and also some physically and multiply disabled.” It’s a career she finds extremely rewarding. “I get to play so many different roles within the teaching day. I am a support teacher, not a classroom teacher, so I work within many different classroom environments each day. I have students I have followed from their first day of kindergarten, into middle school and high school. I have a very close connection with each student and his or her family. I am able to teach my students the skills to become productive adults. My job begins in kindergarten with play, building friendships, and learning to read and write. Throughout elementary school, I teach children about technology, adaptive skills and academic supports and accommodations. In middle and high school, I explore careers and colleges, build relationship skills, promote community involvement and transitioning into adulthood. I have been very lucky to see my students graduate from high school, get their first jobs, graduate from college, get married and have their own children,” Goldman said. For those intrigued by the program, Goldman’s advice is: go for it! “It is the best choice you’ll ever make! Dr. Johnson is very invested in making her students and her program nationally recognized. I have been a cooperating teacher and have hosted 17 student teachers from KU in the Allentown School District. Every student teacher has had multiple job offers before they even graduate! That is a huge benefit when you’re beginning your career,” Goldman said. It’s clear the program’s reputation as the “Best Kept Secret at Kutztown that shouldn’t be a secret” is on borrowed time.