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| From left, Helix students Sureya Haye and Olivia Fierro and SDSU faculty member Adrienne Nicodemus. |
On Dec. 2, educator Eric Ginsberg’s worlds collided in the best way possible.
A faculty member in the San Diego State University School of Teacher Education (STE) for the past 13 years, Ginsberg has also taught English at Helix Charter High School in La Mesa for the past 22. In 2019, he was one of the teachers who launched a California Department of Education-funded program at Helix to form a future educator pathway to engage and equip students interested in the teaching profession.
In the wake of a year of virtual instruction wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, Ginsberg was eager to give his aspiring educators a real-life experience they would always remember. A field trip to his other campus turned out to be just the thing.
“Through Helix Charter’s pathway, we want to help foster the development of a next generation of educators — especially at a time when the shortage of both substitute teachers and credential teachers is so dire,” Ginsberg said. “So we brought our community of future educators to the SDSU community of teacher education. It felt like it was an opportune moment to show them higher ed. I wanted to show them where they could be headed with careers in education.”
In all, 24 Helix sophomores, juniors and seniors, Ginsberg and another Helix teacher, Angelique Gianas, visited the campus for a full day of activities. They started in STE’s Teaching with Technology Lab, where STE associate professor Donna Ross and graduate student Manu Bhargav Srirangarajan guided them through collaborative activities involving Ozobots, Makey Makey, SnapCircuts and Spheros — toy-like educational tools that teach children about coding, electronics and other STEM disciplines. The idea was to show that teaching STEM could be an exciting, hands-on experience.
The group also had the opportunity to interact with two Helix alumni, Alexa Lawrence and Briana Martinez, currently in the SDSU Liberal Studies program, and to ask questions of STE faculty and staff to learn more about teacher preparation at SDSU, notably faculty members Adrienne Nicodemus and Liz Buffington. The afternoon culminated with lunch at East Commons and a campus tour led by an SDSU Ambassador.
“The students who are taking this class are at least entertaining the idea that they could go on to an education career,” Ginsberg said. “I wanted them to remember this day as one that was engaging and dynamic and joyful while being simultaneously educational.”
That much seems to have been accomplished.
For Helix junior Emilee Punsalan, who said she wants to be a teacher, her first ever visit to SDSU made a strong impression.
“It definitely opened my eyes to how much is needed to go into that field,” Punsalan said. “It seems like a big step going from high school to college, but at the same time, when I was on that campus I felt like I could really see myself succeeding here.”
Junior Hailey Rofinot, who aspires to one day teach history and math, said she was particularly drawn to the STEM activities in the Teaching with Technology Lab.
“I actually want to get one of the track robots and one of the orb robots just to play with,” Rofinot said. “They say these projects are mostly for the younger kids and I can understand why — they’re really fun. Even as a high schooler I was like, ‘Oh my God let's do more.’”
Sophomore Aimee Gutierrez, who is less certain about her career aspirations, said the visit was eye-opening.
“There was so much I liked about it,” Gutierrez said. “I've never been on a college campus and experienced real college life. I thought it was really interesting to see what the students' day-to-day looked like. College is intimidating, but once I could see it, it didn't seem that daunting anymore.”