USU Teacher Education Club Students Attend Educators Rising Competition.

English Teaching students Cora Van Nest, Kayleigh Kearsley, and Lizzie Leishman attended the state Educators Rising competition at Weber State University on March 5, 2025, and all three walked away with a prize.

The USU Teacher Education Club, composed of students from multiple disciplines of teaching, started just last January, making this their first time attending Educators Rising. Cora, who is an officer of the club, says “Competing in Educators Rising was a way for me to try something different and understand what members of the club would be doing in the future as we try to grow the competitive side of the club in the coming years.”

She took second place in Educators Rising Moment, which is a speech about the moment one decided to become an educator. “Educators Rising Moment is a fun competition because it doesn’t require any extra research. It is all about my own experience,” Cora reflects. “Ultimately, the competition taught me a lot about myself and my motives for becoming an English Teacher that I didn’t fully understand before.”

Kayleigh and Lizzie competed in the Researching Learning Challenge with Elementary Education student Brooklyn Miller. The group took first place in their project about cerebral palsy. “I interviewed Karma Black from the Disability Resource Center at USU, and Lizzie interviewed a family friend whose daughter has cerebral palsy. With these and other resources, we wrote the essay. Next, we created an 8-10-minute presentation,” Kayleigh comments. “From this competition, I learned how individualized accommodations for students should be. I also learned from Karma Black that there are so many barriers to education and ‘let’s not let disability be one of them.’ This was a great reminder to me, as a future educator, to make sure that my classroom is founded on an accessible environment for each of my students.”

In addition to competing, the group was able to talk to high school students at the competition about USU. “I learned a lot about how excited young people are to educate. We didn’t have Educators Rising at my high school, but the kids in Utah that do it are so excited about it,” Lizzie says. “I think it really gave me hope that, as a teacher, I’m going to be able to have influence on students to get them excited about what they’re learning about. I also learned a lot about the disability of cerebral palsy and how to work with parents and counselors to support every single student—and that every single student that you’re going to come across is different.”

All three students shared how this competition was influential for their future career. “This experience taught me what to expect and how I can help students if I start an Educators Rising Chapter at my future job,” Cora says.

“I discovered the importance of helping our students get access to the resources that they need, as well as knowing that teaching isn’t a spring; it’s a journey, and I can figure things out little by little as I go,” Kayleigh reflects. “The entire experience was very enlightening, and it made me very excited about my future career.”

“I want to be able to know where every student is coming from. I want to be able to see the things they’re struggling with, but then also be able to see the things that they’re doing well,” Lizzie comments. “I want to use the tools I learned at this conference to help students feel confident in their abilities or to just go and find a passion for learning and a passion for being a lifelong member of society.”

Congratulations to Cora, Kayleigh, and Lizzie!