Hundreds of students in Loudoun County, Virginia, will enter classrooms this week led by homegrown talent — new teachers who were once part of the county's teacher cadet program. The program, which has been running for two decades in Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS), is helping offset the teacher shortage.
LCPS students will return to class Thursday. Ena Guevara-Marquez has envisioned this moment ever since since she was a student herself, enrolled in Loudoun County’s teacher cadet program.
"I am so excited," she said. "When I started back sophomore or junior year of high school, it was always like, 'Oh, one day I’ll have a classroom; one day I’ll have a classroom,' and now I’m days away."
Her classroom at Potowmack Elementary School in Sterling is thoughtfully set up, ready to welcome her new first graders
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Just up the hall, another first-time teacher, Charlotte Mullins, is getting a delivery of workbooks for her incoming third-grade class. She, too, traces her dream to become an educator back to high school, getting her first closeup view of the profession as a freshman.
"I would come in once a month to an elementary school classroom and help out for an hour, an hour and a half, before the high school day started," Mullins said. "That just kind of reaffirmed I liked elementary and I liked teaching."
After high school, Guevara-Marquez headed off to James Madison University, and Mullins to Christopher Newport University, to get their teaching degrees.
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Both say LCPS kept in touch. Guevara-Marquez worked as a substitute teacher during breaks, and Mullins came back to speak to students in the teacher cadet program. Both had their jobs lined up by graduation, and both credit the teacher cadet program with fueling their interest early on and bringing them back to Loudoun.
"In February, I signed an early intent letter stating that I would have a job with Loudoun County," Guevara-Marquez said.
Guevara-Marquez and Mullins are two of the 27 new teachers starting in LCPS this this school year who were part of the cadet program.
At a time when many veteran teachers feel under appreciated and under fire, these young women are thrilled with the opportunity. Guevara-Marquez was the first in her family to graduate from college, and she hopes to be a role model for her students.
"I feel I’m in a really unique position because I'm bilingual and because of my background, to really make a positive influence and impact on students with similar backgrounds," she said.
Mullins is also eager to get started.
"I feel prepared," she said. "Excited and prepared."
About 200 high schoolers participate each year in the teacher cadet program.
