As part of my new “Altruistic Tuesdays” series, today, I am pleased to highlight a story from Encore.org:
John Kostibas saw the problem in the educational pipeline. As a major player in the telecommunications revolution and an engineer himself, Kostibas noticed “a huge decline in American engineering students, all stemming from a math phobia they had in middle and high school.”
He was 54. “My thought was that if I can help them get over this phobia, I can direct more students into engineering and technology careers.” After years of start-ups and high stress business deals, Kostibas decided the time was right. “I was ready to do what I always wanted to do, which was teach math in high school.”
Even though he was an engineer, John still needed to pursue his certification in teaching. He was lucky to be able to find a program that was geared to career changers and fast-tracked his plans. Today, as a math teacher at a high school in Louisville, Texas, he is able to show students that math is relevant and useful as a result of his real-world work experiences.
Encore.org offers resources to help you learn about opportunities to volunteer in a classroom before you make the change, alternative certification programs for qualified applicants and subsidies from companies and government programs to help cover the costs associated with preparing to teach. Follow this link to connect to Encore.org’s suggestions for people thinking of making a change to a career in the classroom.
Stay tuned tomorrow for more resources and things to consider if you are thinking about teaching!
photo by Miranda310