MTC '18 Spotlight: Doug Leeson
NAME: DOUG LEESON
COLLEGE: PENN STATE UNIVERSITY
PLACEMENT: H.W. BYERS HIGH SCHOOL
1. What made you want to join the Mississippi Teacher Corps?
The vanilla answer? I wanted to become a teacher, I perused some alternate-route programs, I was blown away by the MTC's credentials, and someone must have messed up some paperwork along the way so I was offered a position (and immediately accepted it). The better answer that I'd rather have my family and friends read is that being around so many altruistic people in so many great places (shout out to the Lehigh Valley and State College) has always been inspiring and I'm long overdue for giving back to an education system that has given me so much.
2. How have you bonded with your students so far?
My students have incredibly infectious energy and I have a lot of fun trying to throw it back at them. I'm fortunate enough to have a ton of overlapping interests with them (whether that means they're very mature or I'm the opposite, I don't want to think about), but we've been able to bounce around from Uncle Drew to T.S. Eliot to Mac Miller to Maya Angelou and find teachable moments in vastly different places.
3. What is something that your MTC classmates don't know about you?
I'm originally from the Philadelphia area and I went to Penn State -- I haven't brought that up before, have I?
4. Which is the better conference and why? The Big 10 or the SEC?
Bama and Georgia don't play anybody, LSU's a pretender, Auburn was exposed by LSU, Mississippi State is a watered-down Penn State, A&M will have two losses after week four, and everyone else (except Ole Miss) is irrelevant. Other than Alabama, the top half of the Big Ten would smack the top half of the SEC, and the separation between the bottom half of the Big Ten and the bottom half of the SEC is even bigger. Welcome to my TED Talk.
The Mississippi Teacher Corps (MTC) selects exceptional college graduates to teach in high-poverty public schools in Mississippi. MTC provides training, support, certification, and a full scholarship for a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) from the University of Mississippi. During the school year, participants receive full pay and benefits from their school district and attend graduate classes at the University of Mississippi.