Plymouth Whitemarsh High School's PRIZE graduates honored at signing day ceremony

Plymouth Whitemarsh High School graduates who have committed to becoming teachers and earning their degrees at West Chester University were honored during a signing day ceremony held at the college on June 25.

Gianna Hartnett, Abigail McCarthy, Ava McEvoy, and Ava Spicer signed commitment letters and took a pledge to be teachers during a special event organized as part of the PRIZE (Partnering in Raising Inclusive Zealous Educators) program. Two other PW graduates – Allimahn Arjun and Phoebe Balkiewicz – have also committed to West Chester but were unable to attend the ceremony.

According to the university, this year’s signing day class was the largest since the program started in 2022. West Chester initiated the program as a way to develop a “teacher pipeline” to address the teacher shortage in Pennsylvania. The university partnered first with Kennett Consolidated School District and now have partnerships established with 13 K-12 organizations, including Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.

Dr. Melissa Figueroa-Douglas, Equity and Advancement Officer for Colonial, helped establish the partnership at PW and was invited to speak to attendees about the “team approach” Colonial has taken to promoting the program to students and families. She expressed thanks to school and district administrators and counselors who have been “laser-focused” in making students aware of the PRIZE program. The hope is that the students will return and serve as student-teachers or teachers in the schools they once attended.  

“Make sure you come back to Colonial,” she said to the PW graduates in attendance.

Interest in the PRIZE program  at Plymouth Whitemarsh has risen over the last several years. Two years ago, four students were involved in the program and this year, 13 students participated. PW students may enroll in West Chester’s college courses to earn college credit at no cost, and they are also invited to attend an on-campus Summer Academy program for free. 

Rising seniors Lexi Bowers and Kaelen McAllister were finishing up their Summer Academy experience and in attendance at the signing event, where they got a preview of what their experience could be at this time next year. Both students said they were encouraged to participate by their school counselors. 

“My guidance counselor brought it up freshman year. He said that it was a great program for me because I had just discovered I really want to be a teacher,” said Lexi, who aims to become a fifth-grade English teacher.

Abigail McCarthy, who is preparing to attend West Chester in the fall and attended the summer program last year, said she would encourage any student who is involved in the PRIZE program to take advantage of the summer on-campus experience.

“If you have the chance to do the camp, then do it,” she said. “I feel like it was a very good way to prepare myself. I feel like I knew the campus very well before even starting here, and got to meet a bunch of professors.”

The graduates who took part in PRIZE will be coming into West Chester with college-level courses already under their belts. They were able to take online classes to prepare them for life as teachers, such as technology tools to transform teaching and learning, child development, and foundations of special education. 

“I like how a lot of the classes were project-based,” said Ava McEvoy, who noted she may minor in special education because of one of the classes she took.

To learn more about the PRIZE program, visit our PRIZE webpage.