{"id":52874,"date":"2025-03-11T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/?p=52874"},"modified":"2025-03-25T08:06:52","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T13:06:52","slug":"tarleton-state-tafe-students-advance-to-national-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/tarleton-state-tafe-students-advance-to-national-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Tarleton State TAFE Students Advance to National Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Four students from Tarleton State University\u2019s Texas Association of Future Educators (TAFE) chapter advanced to national level competition after vying at the Teach Tomorrow Summit state conference held in Galveston in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Six
Tarleton State TAFE students (from left) Journey Harris, Abby Graham, Mariann Pustejovsky, Guadalupe Ibarra, Erica Galvan and Madison Klement recently competed at the Teach Tomorrow Summit state conference in Galveston. Graham, Harris, Klement and Pustejovsky qualified to compete in the Educators Rising national conference in June 2025.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Abby Graham, Journey Harris, Madison Klement and Mariann Pustejovsky will head to Orlando, Fla., in June to compete in the Educators Rising national conference. Their events are Educators Rising Moment (Graham); Impromptu Speaking, Interactive Bulletin Board \u2014 Elementary and Public Speaking (Harris); Public Speaking (Klement); and Creative Lecture (Pustejovsky).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the Tarleton State TAFE chapter received the Outstanding Chapter award. Formed in fall 2023, the campus chapter hosted last year\u2019s area competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe national conference is more than just a competition \u2014 it\u2019s a celebration of passion, dedication and the future of education,\u201d said Harris, Tarleton State TAFE president. Seeing others showcase their passion inspires her to keep growing, learning and leading, she added, and she\u2019s proud to advance to nationals again with the campus chapter as national president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Klement echoed that enthusiasm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited for nationals because as a teacher resident, I truly believe what my speech is about. It\u2019s especially exciting since it is my last year to compete,\u201d she said, and added that she hopes to continue positively representing Tarleton State\u2019s education program as an alumna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are incredibly proud of our TAFE chapter for advancing to the national competition,\u201d said Dr. Lesley Leach, Dean of the College of Education. \u201cThis achievement reflects the student\u2019s passion for education and commitment to excellence \u2014 two essential qualities of outstanding teachers. We wish our students the best of luck at nationals!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cQualifying for nationals is a tremendous achievement for our students,\u201d said Katherine Jones, College of Education instructor and Tarleton State TAFE competitive adviser. \u201cThis year\u2019s Teach Tomorrow Summit state conference was the largest in TAFE history, with more that 3,700 Texas high school and collegiate competitors. Our recruitment table attracted over 400 students, allowing us to showcase the value of a Tarleton State education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jones said Tarleton\u2019s TAFE chapter has received generous support from alumni and community donors in addition to travel funding for the state competition through a College of Education Kickstart grant. Fundraising is ongoing, and students will be working over the next few months to raise money for the national conference trip. She invited anyone interested in supporting their efforts to contact her at kjones1@tarleton.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TAFE (pronounced \u201ctaffy\u201d) is a statewide cocurricular student organization that enables students to explore opportunities and careers in the teaching profession. It was created in 1984 to provide Texas high school and middle school students with the knowledge to make informed decisions about pursuing a career in education. It\u2019s sponsored by the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals and governed by a board of directors composed of teachers, students and principals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To learn more about TAFE, visit www.tafeonline.org<\/a>. For more information about the national competition, visit www.educatorsrising.org\/conference-competitions\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Four students from Tarleton State University\u2019s Texas Association of Future Educators (TAFE) chapter advanced to national level competition after vying at the Teach Tomorrow Summit state conference …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":473,"featured_media":52875,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":423,"footnotes":""},"categories":[422,423,425,426],"tags":[430,437],"class_list":["post-52874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-morestories","category-academics-research","category-campus-community","category-honors-achievements","tag-academic-affairs","tag-college-of-education"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"ehellmund@tarleton.edu","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/ehellmundtarleton-edu\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2025\/03\/TAFE_2025-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["_morestories<\/a>","Academics & Research<\/a>","Campus & Community<\/a>","Honors & Achievements<\/a>"],"unlinked":["_morestories<\/span>","Academics & Research<\/span>","Campus & Community<\/span>","Honors & Achievements<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Academic Affairs<\/a>","College of Education<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Academic Affairs<\/span>","College of Education<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 1 year ago","modified":"Updated 1 year ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on March 11, 2025","modified":"Updated on March 25, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on March 11, 2025 8:00 am","modified":"Updated on March 25, 2025 8:06 am"},"featured_img_caption":"Tarleton State TAFE students (from left) Journey Harris, Abby Graham, Mariann Pustejovsky, Guadalupe Ibarra, Erica Galvan and Madison Klement recently competed at the Teach Tomorrow Summit state conference in Galveston. Graham, Harris, Klement and Pustejovsky qualified to compete in the Educators Rising national conference in June 2025.","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/473"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52874"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52888,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52874\/revisions\/52888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}