LCCC unveils model classroom, addresses teacher shortage
Luzerne County Community College education majors will now have the opportunity to develop their skills in a model early childhood classroom setting on campus with the assistance of Luzerne County Head Start.
LCCC officials unveiled its Marcella Nagorski-Waldow Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning Friday as part of a morning event that also addressed the national and regional teacher shortage and gave attendees a sneak peek at the new Yeager Arboretum, which will provide learning opportunities for the community.*
"We are committed to ensuring our graduates are workforce-ready, and the new Marcella Nagorski-Waldow Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning will give our students the opportunity to experience firsthand how early childhood students learn," said LCCC President Thomas P. Leary. "Our partnership with Luzerne County Head Start means their students and ours will be learning alongside each other. This relationship ensures that our students get hands-on experience before they graduate, and Head Start's students have supplemental classroom instruction. This is one way LCCC is meeting the teacher shortage and we will continue to look for other ways to meet the needs of our local workforce."
Currently, LCCC is one of 100 community colleges out of 3,000 in the nation that has a Head Start program on campus. College officials plan to continue and enhance its collaboration with Luzerne County Head Start to provide practical educational experiences for both groups of students.
During the panel discussion, officials talked about the need for more teachers and how LCCC can help.
Statistics from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's office indicated that about 10 years ago Pennsylvania certified about 20,000 new teachers every year. In 2023, Pennsylvania certified about 5,000 new teachers. Currently, Pennsylvania has about 5,500 teacher vacancies in schools across the state.
The panel members stressed the importance of getting students into the classroom as early as possible in their college careers so they can see what it's like and be better prepared when they enter the workforce.
After the panel discussion, LCCC officials held a ribbon cutting and unveiled the Marcella Nagorski-Waldow Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, which will serve as a model classroom environment where future teachers can develop skills in and learn through innovative teaching practices, foster a lifelong love of learning, and empower students to reach their full potential by connecting with children from the community.
The new Center is a dual-purpose space outfitted to be a model early learning classroom as well as a college classroom designed to prepare teachers for real-life educational experiences.
Named to honor the legacy of the late Marcella Nagorski-Waldow, a life-long educator who was a dedicated elementary teacher in the Derry Township School District, Hershey, Pennsylvania; and the Dallas School District, Dallas, Pennsylvania.
"She had a passion for what she did and that passion and love of teaching showed in the classroom," said Cheryl Baur, vice president of Finance at LCCC. "I was in her fifth grade class in the Dallas School District. The summer before school she went to Egypt and brought back pictures, stories and books about the pyramids and ancient Egypt. It was something I had never seen at that point in my life. She made learning about that exciting and it's something I remember to this day. I will always remember her as a kind and caring teacher who truly loved her students."
Janis Seeley, chair of LCCC's Social and Behavioral Sciences Department, said the new center will further enhance the College's curriculum because it will give students hands-on experience.
"This classroom gives our education students the chance to know what it's like to walk into a classroom that's specifically designed for early childhood education," Seeley said. "They no longer have to just visualize what a future classroom will look like. They can experience a real-life classroom with the help of Head Start. This space is designed to show our students how an early childhood student develops physically, socially, emotionally, and cognitively."
Rebecca Brominski, executive director, LCCC Foundation, said the new center also is a way for the community to honor the late Marcella Nagorski-Waldow.
"This wonderful gift will preserve the educational legacy of a life-long educator and will seek to carry on her passion for the classroom and educating our youth to become the leaders of tomorrow," Brominski said.
Following the ribbon cutting, College officials gave those in attendance a sneak peek of the new Yeager Arboretum, which is named in honor of Brooke and Libby Yeager. Brooke and Libby are longtime members of the LCCC family, with Brooke serving as a faculty member and Libby in administration.
During the sneak peek, Head Start students did a planting with the help of LCCC's science students in celebration of Arbor Day.
Once the arboretum is complete, trees and other plant life will have identification markers on them to educate those who visit the campus on the local flora. There will also be a pathway created with kiosks and QR codes where people can scan them with their smartphones to learn more.