Like many high school graduates, Melissa Comunale went to college to pursue a degree in a subject that she thought would be her career, but she quickly realized the degree path she was on wasn’t her passion. Melissa changed her major to general studies and decided to explore the teaching field after hearing about the PSP-supported Dragons Teach Middle Years (DTMY) program offered at Drexel.

“I’ve always had thoughts about being a teacher, but never thought [it was something I could pursue,]” said Melissa, a junior at Drexel University.

DTMY prepares undergraduates to earn a middle school teaching certificate (grades 4 – 8) while pursuing their primary major. An innovative approach, students also train in a classroom alongside a mentor teacher in a local partner school.

“The program sets the tone for what a teaching career would really be like and you know right away if you’d prosper in that environment,” Melissa said.

A year into DTMY, and serving as a student teacher in a sixth-grade math class at a district school, Melissa now knows what career she really wants—to be a middle-school teacher in Philadelphia.

 

Melissa Comunale, from the DragonsTeach Middle Years at Drexel University, leads a classroom lesson.