January 16, 2016

Michelle Skroupa ’15 has three pieces of key advice for current education majors. Be prepared to keep learning, admit when you don’t know something and always remember those who helped you along your way.

“Taking classes and student teaching are wonderful opportunities to learn, but the learning doesn’t stop when you graduate,” says the early childhood education major, who also minored in psychology.

Skroupa, who currently works as a second grade teacher in Stafford County, Va., felt called to teach from an early age.

“I really wanted to work with kids and help them love learning, so education was the right program for me” she says.

And Susquehanna, with its reputable and close-knit education department, was the perfect fit.

“The program is small enough that you get a lot of support from peers and faculty,” she says.

“I got to take classes that were not simply lectures, but instead provided hands-on, interactive learning opportunities,” Skroupa says. Like all Susquehanna education students, her learning was capped off with a semester-long student teaching experience.

“It was so exciting to finally practice all of the things I had learned in a real classroom. This really made teaching come alive for me,” she says.