STEM Teaching Students Find Careers

Ibrahim Mesanovic was a chemical engineer, then a high school chemistry teacher, in his home country.

In 1992, however, he fled war-torn Bosnia, making his way to Germany, and later to the United States.

He’s learned English — his fifth fluent language. He’s organized a school for refugees and worked as a journalist. In 2012, he was a member of Pacific University’s pilot program training math and science professionals to teach STEM subjects (that is, science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in middle and high schools.

(Read about the STEM-focused master of arts in teaching program in the Spring 2012 issue of Pacific magazine.)

Today, Mesanovic’s dream of returning to the classroom has come true. After 17 years in the United States, he is a licensed teacher, and in August 2014, he started teaching full time at Brookings (Ore.) High School.

He is one of 17 students who have completed the Woodburn-based STEM MAT program, and he’s one of the 16 of those who are teaching full time.

Most are working in the Pacific Northwest — like Chris Pokorny (Portland Public Schools) and Rebekah Gomez (Woodburn), who were featured in the original Pacific magazine story. Others are teaching as far away as Massachusetts (Tara Connelly MAT ’12), Hawai‘i (Hailey Knettles MAT ’14) and rural Alaska (Caitlin Clarke MAT ’12).

The program, meanwhile, has become a cornerstone of Pacific’s Woodburn Campus. The 12-month program takes place entirely in Woodburn, where students complete courses, clinical practice, and student teaching, as they earn a master of arts in teaching degree with a focus on STEM subjects and English for speakers of other languages, or ESOL. The program is supported by a grant form the National Science Foundation Robert Noyce Scholarship Program, and successful applicants may receive $22,000 in scholarships.