Two recent graduates of the William Woods University(WWU) School of Education are being recognized as outstanding teachers in their field just two years into their careers. Elizabeth Kasubke and Summer Woodside, both 2021 graduates of The Woods with degrees in Elementary Education, were recently selected by the Missouri Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (MACTE) as Missouri Outstanding Beginning Teachers.
Kasubke and Woodside are both employed in the Fulton Public Schools. Both maintain close ties with the WWU School of Education.
“William Woods was such a welcoming campus and I truly felt supported by the staff in the Education department,” said Kasubke, a native of Mexico, Missouri who currently teaches fifth grade at Bush Elementary School. “To this day, I still have several of my (WWU) teachers who occasionally check in on me.”
Woodside, from St. Louis, is a third grade teacher at Bartley Elementary School who recalls the clinical experiences she completed with Fulton Public Schools during her time as an Education major at The Woods.
“My time at William Woods was an immersive experience,” said Woodside. “We were given many opportunities to go to schools and be hands-on with students through different opportunities and observations.”
Every two years, MACTE honors exemplary first and second-year teachers across the state for their work with Missouri’s PK-12 students. The Outstanding Beginning Teacher awardees will be recognized for their honor during the MACTE Spring Conference on March 2-3 in Columbia.
For more on the School of Education at William Woods, please visit:
https://www.williamwoods.edu/academics/undergraduate/programs_and_degrees/education/index.html
