This content was published: May 18, 2010. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
Portland Teachers Program to hold graduation May 28
Photos and story by Abe Proctor
The 2010 graduates of the Portland Teachers Program will be honored at the annual Celebration of Students on Friday, May 28, at Portland Community College’s Cascade Campus, 705 N. Killingsworth St. The celebration – the program’s 21st – runs from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Moriarty Arts and Humanities building, corner of North Albina Avenue and Killingsworth Street. A reception will precede the festivities from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the campus’ Student Center Cafeteria.
The graduates this year are Quiana Allen, Meriba Asencio, Jalia Campbell, Reginal Cole, Tina Dang, Yolanda Flores, Sarah Gonzalez, Antoinia Griffin, Rosina Hardy, Mario Interian, Tawanda Jones, Martha Rodriquez and Andre Washington. They have spent the past five years earning first their bachelor’s degrees, and then completing a year of graduate work and student teaching to get an Oregon teaching license.
The program was created to place more culturally and ethnically diverse teachers in local public school classrooms. This year’s celebration also marks a milestone in the program’s history. Sarah Gonzales is the first Portland Teachers Program graduate to arise from the program’s partnership with the Beaverton School District, first established in 2007. Gonzales, who attended grade school and high school in Beaverton, will return there to assume her teaching duties.
Nearly 60 aspiring teachers and a host of alumni will also be recognized at the celebration. The future teachers range from freshmen to graduate students, and the alumni represent teachers and administrators who have graduated from the program over the past 20 years. Also in attendance will be participants’ families; leaders from the African American, Native American, Latino and Asian American communities; and representatives from education, business and government.
“Good teachers shape the minds of our future leaders and citizens,” said the program’s coordinator Deborah Cochrane. “So we need to support and encourage good teachers, those who have the courage, patience, dedication and love to do this important, challenging work.”
The Portland Teachers Program is a partnership among Portland Public Schools, Portland Community College, Portland State University, the University of Portland and Beaverton School District, designed to increase the number of culturally competent teachers for Portland and Beaverton schools, with a special focus on the recruitment of historically underrepresented groups. Implemented in late 1989 as a response to the critical shortage of culturally and ethnically diverse teachers, the program has graduated nearly 140 teachers, most of who continue to teach in Portland schools. Several have also become principals and vice principals.