Seth Sampson: TAFE Impact

I think. When we go to college for any individual, sometimes you go with a group, sometimes you go by yourself, but it’s a whole new transitional stage in life. We all go through transitional stages, especially in their educational journey and each. Hard impact of the transition, say, for instance, between elementary and middle school, hard transitional year, fifth and sixth grade, typically it’s the age breakdown eighth grade to ninth grade. Huge transitional year support systems need to be in place. 12th grade to freshman year in college. Massive, massive support systems need to be in place, and TAFE can be that support system, especially because it’s built upon the commonality of wanting to go into the teaching profession, wanting to be an educator. So that’s a starting point. And then you have individuals that are coming in from Tapi organizations in the high school level, so they already have that connection. But they may not necessarily have gone to the same high schools, but they have the the connection of going through maybe being in competitive events. So it builds on that relationship that’s kind of already there. And then it strengthen it. And then it adds that supportive entity that individuals can play at the college level to say, Hey, we’re here to help you in any way we can. These are some of the things that we had to go through, hopefully. Do you know that? Let me help you with it? And it just starts really building that rapport early on and even going back down in which the TAFE students have already had a lot of connections with the school districts. And, you know, the Tavi chapters in the high school of training them and kind of giving them some of the information that they wish they have had. So I see the huge impact they’re already having in a short amount of time that the Tavi chapters have been in existence here at TAMIU and in Laredo. And I think it’s just getting started, and a lot of the members that are in there now are freshmen, and they’re seeing these leaders take on this type of role and now we’re building those connections. And it’s going to be kind of one of those things that it’s annual and we have those connections already at the the districts that they’re wanting, that the teacher leaders that are already there. So it’s really in a position to really go beyond just the Laredo Independent School District or just the United Independent School District. It’s the communities outside of Laredo, the people that one of our officers, she lives quite a far ways away, and she had to take the bus ride for two hours. It’s reaching those communities, making those connections, bridging those gaps and having a sense of belonging at the same time and a sense of inclusion as well.

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