Recently, Misericordia University realized the need to diversify their student base seeking degrees in education. Local superintendents acknowledged the fact that they should be hiring more teachers and administrators of diversity, but say there are just not enough diverse students graduating with education degrees from local colleges.
This is where the Coca-Cola Corp. stepped up and partnered with Misericordia University’s Diversity Institute by offering a scholarship that allows two students of diversity to attend the college and earn a degree in education. This scholarship is designed to encourage more local minority students to become teachers, which will increase the pool of minority educators that local Pennsylvania school districts desperately seek.
A recent survey of education graduate statistics in Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Columbia counties shows that a very small percentage of non-white students graduate with a degree in education. This leaves the local school districts in a bind when it comes to hiring minority teachers since they prefer to hire local graduates and there are just not enough non-white graduates to go around.
In an effort to rectify this situation colleges are reaching out and actively recruiting students from larger metropolitan areas across Pennsylvania and other neighboring states. Other local universities such as The University of Scranton are known to recruit students from as far away as Boston and Washington D.C. It is not uncommon for these schools to attend college fairs enticing students to their Pennsylvania campuses in the fall.
Diversity is very important to Misericordia University, having various cultures intertwined on campus leads to a much more rounded education. Everyone benefits from the different ideas associated with different cultures. Misericordia University is doing a good job of increasing diversity on their campus as 15% of this fall’s incoming freshman class of 960 students are minorities.
This conscious effort to address diversity on their campus by local Pennsylvania colleges will lead to many more minority teachers being employed in the area. These minority teachers will be able to enhance the education of Pennsylvania’s youth, serving them a much more rounded education.
