Teacher Interview Day 2006

According to Corrie Creasman, the event coordinator and career counseling intern in the Office of Career Services, this is the 12th time APU has offered Teacher Interview Day, and this year representatives from about 60 school districts from southern California are participating. It was “a great opportunity to show that we have really strong [teacher] candidates,” said Creasman.

In the Hall of Champions, district representatives set up stations and had information available for interested applicants. Edna Tristan, dean of students at El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera, was excited about the event. “We have a few teachers from APU,” she said, calling them “dedicated, hard workers. We hope to find more teachers of the same quality.”

Arcadia Christian School also hires many APU alumni and is looking for more, according to Principal, board member, and Curriculum Director Don Pettinger. He estimated that about 70 percent of the employees at Arcadia Christian graduated from APU.

Based on the numbers of teacher candidates participating in the event, it appears that these district representatives will be successful in their search. Almost 300 teacher candidates, including current APU students and alumni, attended. Some already had their credentials, and others were currently enrolled in a credentialing program.

The candidates were able to sign up for interviews previously to the event, and they could also sign up for more throughout the day. Each person was allowed to schedule as many as 13 interviews, but most had about 4, said Creasman.

Nathaniel Phillips graduated from APU in May 2006 with a B.A. in Mathematics and hoped to find a potential job. Patti Hill, another teacher candidate, graduated from APU with a B.A. in Liberal Studies in 2002, and received her M.A. in Special Education in 2006. Hill is glad for the opportunity to be interviewed today. “It’s a very good learning experience,” she said.