The Mount St. Mary’s University School of Education on December 7 held a pinning ceremony to recognize 34 undergraduate and 23 graduate students for completing their full-time Internship II experience in the Fall 2023 semester. This internship is a key step before graduating and becoming a classroom teacher.
“Our Maryland Deans and Directors group began talking about ways in which we can recognize the accomplishment of completing a required teaching internship,” said Stacey Brown-Hobbs, Ph.D., C’85, chair and director of teacher education in the Mount’s School of Education. “It is a major commitment on behalf of students who have to devote a minimum of 100 days to this full-time experience.” The School of Education decided to organize a pinning ceremony, and the majority of eligible students participated in the special event.
The full-time Internship II follows Internship I. In the initial internship, students serve under the mentorship of a 
qualified in-service teacher in a Professional Development School (PDS). The interns engage in the daily responsibilities of the classroom teacher while completing assignments and teaching lessons in conjunction with education courses required that semester. In Internship 2, Mount students participate for at least 100 days in observation and supervised teaching in the PDS setting.
“Please know that this esteemed university is, and always will be, your mountain home. Don’t be strangers. Come and visit us often because we can’t wait to hear about your journey into the noblest of all professions,” said Dean of the School of Education Barbara Marinak, Ph.D. “Congratulations to you!”
The following 34 undergraduate education majors, all of whom graduate in either December 2023 or May 2024, received pins: Devin Barbour, Amaya Bowman, Jacob Brown, Alexa Carril, Jordan Crowley, Zoe DeGuzman, Blake DiPietro, Claire Doll, Emma Edwards, Sharon Gesell, Allison Guzman, Jonah Hancock, Maya Herishen, Kassidy Johnson, Brianna Kaas, Briaunna Kress, Anna Krug, Ryan Laur, Tyler Long, Addison Malone, Lilli Millender, Mathew Norris, Madison Otterbein, Maureen Pham, 
Anthony Polo, Aubrey Preske, Laura Ryan, Madelynne Samuels, William Smith, Jessica Tschopp, Alexis Vance, Elizabeth Vance, Rachel Warren, and Grace Warthen.
Twenty-three students in the Master of Arts in Teaching program, who also graduate in either December 2023 or May 2024, received pins: Rosemary Atepor, Sarah Blackburn, Alyssa Bohn, Erika Byrd, William Cobb, Michael Fink, Riley Flick, Samuel Genau, Nicholas M. Jones, Cencia Korrell, Sarah Kubic, Emily Leto, Joshua Lucas, Hugh Ortner, Amanda Peterson, Danielle Rinker, Jennifer Schmalzle, Namita Sharma, Natalie Sheets, William Solomon, Melisa Vance, Kerrie Vanscoy and Junette Wilson.
In addition to Brown-Hobbs and Marinak, other School of Education faculty members and staff in attendance at the ceremony included Laura Frazier, Ed.D.; Angela Mucci-Guido, Ph.D.; Clarke Kole, M.A.; Mary Newton; and Patrick Ryan, Ph.D. The School of Education is grateful for the PDS internship supervisors who came to celebrate the students with whom they worked: Stacey Hiltner, Julie Ketchum, Regine Schwab, Bryant Meckley, Ph.D., Jennifer Powell, Kim Robison, Sunora Wilbar, Phyllis Younkins and Cynthia Zimmerman.