Because of widespread outages caused by Hurricane Helene, Greenville County schools were closed for several days, preventing BJU School of Education and Human Services practicum students from observing their mentor teachers as scheduled. However, this change in schedule turned into an opportunity for them to help teachers at Bob Jones Academy and gain practical experience.
The storm caused significant flooding in the BJA elementary school building across the street from the university campus. All second through fifth-grade classes were relocated to rooms on the BJU campus for two weeks.
To assist the BJA teachers, many practicum students volunteered to help prepare for the transition.
“The students’ help took a huge burden off our teachers,” said Jessica Bancroft, Student Experience Director at BJA. “From taking decorations down in the hallway to making nametags for each student, we are so thankful for the many hands and how God continues to provide for us.”
Dalila McCrum, SOEHS faculty member, was also there working with students. She noted that “This was a unique opportunity to help decorate classroom doors and find and arrange letters to make welcoming door displays for the elementary students.” She believes that experiences like this one allow student teachers to build expertise that will serve them in the future when they may be called upon to set up a creative and welcoming learning classroom in challenging circumstances.
“We hope the skills our university students practiced will be used in their future classrooms,” said McCrum.
If you want to see a snapshot of what our students did, check out this brief video of some of the ways they were able to help.
