The University of North Texas at Dallas, in conjunction with the Verizon Foundation, officially launched the Emerging Teacher Institute Science, Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) Fellows program Tuesday, May 24. Ten high school seniors were competitively selected to participate in the program from The School for Talented and Gifted at Townview Magnet School and Bishop Dunn High School.

The selected students will collaborate and identify ways to leverage their learning around STEM, according to Dr. John Gasko, the founder of the Emerging Teacher Institute (ETI) at UNT Dallas.

“We want each student to be able to work together and solve some of the social problems we’re experiencing here in South Dallas,” Gasko said. “If I was going to get thousands of dollars of resources as a high school senior to come together and meet new people and use what I’ve learned and experientially apply that to some real social problems, I would be excited. It is a great opportunity, and imagine what that is going to do for them on the road to college.”

With UNT Dallas rapidly expanding, Gasko said this opportunity will continue the upward trend of impacting the community through social mobilization. It also builds on ETI’s recent grant network with the Wipro Teaching Fellows, and the Texas Instruments Principal Fellows.

“Being able to host this program here and create more opportunities for high school students so they can imagine UNT Dallas as their college home, but at minimum, bringing diverse organizations together as part of who we are in our outreach to the community, is really exciting,” Gasko said.

For more information on the Emerging Teacher Institute at UNT Dallas, visit https://www.untdallas.edu/soe/about. 

Photo Gallery: Click Here.