Even during the challenging time of learning during COVID-19, Nick Ehko ‘23 experienced rich community and was taught hands-on skills at Geneva College while pursuing his bachelor’s in education.
Ehko first knew he wanted to become a math teacher when he was in high school. As a middle school student, his basketball coaches had also been his teachers and, after an internship in high school, he knew this was the career path for him. His older brother had attended Geneva so the campus was familiar to him, and he was excited to play basketball while pursuing his calling in education.
Throughout his time at Geneva, he found a strong community in professors, coaches, and fellow students. Ehko recalls, “The professors know you personally . . . they remember things about you. At a smaller school, you meet more people and make more meaningful connections.” He benefitted from the size of the College, making close, personal connections with those he encountered. As a leader in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), he experienced and helped to cultivate a family-like environment.
Gaining practical experience as a teacher during COVID-19 was a challenge, and many commitments were contingent on the status of the virus at the time. Even still, Ehko was in a classroom student-teaching by his sophomore year of college. He student-taught in the New Brighton School District and gained practical training hours at many other school districts in Beaver County. He never felt under-prepared or nervous while teaching in the classroom, thanks to his support system at Geneva. Not only was he on the ground in Beaver County schools, Ehko was also given the opportunity to present his work at the Geneva College Science Fair and to the teachers at the New Brighton School District during his junior year.
Ehko experienced Geneva demonstrate its commitment to faith integration in his classes. “I love that in every class at Geneva [my teachers] incorporate the Gospel into the content in some way.” Ehko especially saw this in his math courses, in which his professor would continually refer to God’s creation and teach how math was developed.
Now as a teacher himself, Ehko utilizes the content taught in his classes as well as the educational framework practiced by his professors. Ehko now thinks about how he can incorporate the Gospel into his own curricula and emulate the way he was taught at Geneva, integrating faith into all of life and learning.
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