Former Reading Corps tutor, Crystal, remembers the exact moment her career path changed forever. She was nearing the end of her second year in the program and thinking about the future. She knew she wanted to keep helping local students for all four years that AmeriCorps allows members to serve, but then? She wasn’t sure.
“So, I was just wondering what I would be doing, and someone just said offhand ‘Well, there’s this MNGOT thing…’” she recalls.
The Right Option at the Right Time
Minnesota Grow Your Own Teacher, or MNGOT for short, is a special partnership that offers tutors an affordable pathway to becoming teachers. Reading Corps tutors accepted into the program combine their AmeriCorps service with a master’s program at the University of Minnesota. In their first year of the program, they spend their days tutoring while pursuing their coursework evenings and weekends. In their second year, they split their days between tutoring and student teaching.
For Crystal, the suggestion planted a seed that is growing into a rewarding career.
“I got hooked in with the science of reading, but then there were other parts of teaching that started to make sense to me, like the soft skills,” she says. “The more I got into it, the more affirming it was. It really solidified my career plans.”
Turning Hopes into Reality
In 2024 Crystal graduated from the University of Minnesota in May and spent the summer applying for teaching positions near her hometown. She started new-teacher orientation in August and began the school year in her own second-grade classroom!
It’s been a bit of whirlwind, but Crystal is grateful for the ways Reading Corps and MNGOT helped prepare her for teaching full-time. With a rock-solid foundation and a great start, Crystal has a bright future ahead of her in teaching. For anyone thinking of making the jump into elementary education, she believes wholeheartedly that MNGOT lays out a great pathway.
The Beginning of a Rewarding Career
“I would recommend it! I think it’s a really fabulous first step to being a teacher, because otherwise it’s overwhelming to think about how the finances are going to come together for a degree,” she says. The decision worked out perfectly for Crystal. “Being a second-grade teacher is funny, quirky, exhausting, and wonderfully different every day.”
If you’re hoping to teach one day like Crystal, Reading Corps is a great place to start. The next cohort for MNGOT begins in the fall and the deadline for applying is March 31. You can learn more about the opportunity and how to apply by visiting our website.