Last week, students enrolled in our Upward Bound Math & Science Program (UBMS) program decorated cookies, sipped some hot coco, made snowflakes, snow globes, and cut out snowflakes in Thompson Hall at their Winter Enrichment Day.

Lourdes Ramirez, Coordinator of Field Placements, Partnerships and Recruitment for Fitchburg State’s School of Education, Early College Dual Enrollment, Fernando Garcia-Rodriguez and Assistant Director of Admissions Eliezer Rivera a cohort of local high school students enrolled in The Future Educator Academy program to campus for a day of programming. Students completed a badge focused on topics in education; CPR- Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation with Fitchburg State University Police Off. Emily Ramos, Peer Mediation and Conflict Resolution Techniques with School of Education Professor Emily Fournier, Career Planning & My Future Badge with Career Services and Advising Center Director Lindsay Carpenter Connors, and  Supporting Mental Wellness in the Classroom with Behavioral Sciences Professor Megan Krell, College Reading & Learning Association with Director of the Academic Coaching and Tutoring Center (ACT)  Kat McLellan, and more. 

Director of Upward Bound Math & Science Nate Obin welcomed President Donna Hodge toa discussion this morning as part of our Future Educator Academy. President Hodge discussed her own journey in higher education and took questions. Some of our Presidential Ambassadors, as well as our Dean of the School of Education,  Mojdeh Bayat and Economics, History and Political Science Professor Christine Dee were on hand to answer questions as well.  

Biology and Chemistry Professor Dr. Erin Rehrig reviewed stages of plant evolution with students in her Life Science for Educators class. They learn to identify each of the four major plant classifications; Nonvascular plants (mosses), Seedless vascular plants (ferns) Gymnosperms (pine), and Angiosperms (flowering plants). 

Theater Professor Kelly Morgan enlisted the help of the  Drawbridge Puppet Theater in conjunction with the The Humanities and Education Departments to transform the Ellis White lecture Hall for a performance of Pinocchio. Professor Morgan's classes, Professor Joann Nichols' Arts Integration class as well as three classes from our McKay Campus Elementary School attended. 

On Friday, Assistant Professor Karen DeAngelis of the university’s Education Department led a group of our Education students, who are members of the Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society, in an activity in third-grade classrooms at McKay Elementary School. The students read the book "Veterans - Heroes in our Neighborhood"  and then had the elementary students write letters of gratitude to local veterans for their service.  These letters will be distributed to veterans during Veterans Day activities at the Fitchburg Armory, the Veterans Hospital in Bedford,  MA, as well as a local assisted living facility. Student Veteran Jacob Chandler, an Army veteran with a deployment to Afghanistan, was among the Education majors.

This morning, President Donna Hodge and Dean of Education, Mojdeh Bayat welcomed local School Superintendents and Legislators to an informal discussion, and Q & A session in the Hammond Hall Main Lounge. The panel consisted of; State Representative Natalie M. Higgins, representing the 4th Worcester District, Fitchburg State University alum State Representative Michael Kushmerek, State Senator John J. Cronin, representing the Worcester and Middlesex District, from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, welcome Senior Associate Commissioner Darcy Fernandes & Associate Commissioner Elizabeth Bennett, and from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, Deputy Commissioner for Academic Affairs and Student Success Richard Riccardi. They were all available to answered questions on a wide range of topics facing education in Massachusetts.

This morning, as part of the university's You FIT Here! Fitchburg Your Story program, Fitchburg State University School of Education and English Studies programs held a Teach-In at Abolitionist Park. Professors Danette Day, Kisha Tracy, and William Cortezia taught their Culturally Proficient Educator, Diversity in Education, and The Bible as Literature courses in Abolitionist Park.   

Fitchburg State University is marking Constitution Day 2025 with a week full of events organized by the General Education Program co-sponsored with the Office of Student Development and the Student Government Association will focus on the topic of the due process of law. Yesterday afternoon, English Studies Professor Kisha Tracy  and President Hodge welcomed the first speaker, Fitchburg State Board of Trustees Member Shane Rodriguez a '94 Alum, Attorney, Assistant Professor at MA School of Law, and former Leominster Police Department Officer who presented "Rights, Wrongs, and the Rule of Law: Understanding Due Process."

This morning, School of Education Professor Danette Day welcomed Honors Program students to her Current Events & Service Learning course. The course combines analysis of political and social issues with practice in the form of service learning oriented toward these issues.