September 2025
Meet the 2025- 2026 Rutgers-Camden MAT Clinical Practice Interns
Here is a short list of what our pre-service teachers are MOST excited about this upcoming year
* Meeting the students and building relationships with them.
* Seeing a student’s face light up when they observe/discover something new.
* Growing as an educator by learning new strategies, gaining hands-on experience, developing skills, and learning to perfect my educational goals and ideas.
* Finding a teaching style, making a difference, and gaining experience and knowledge.
* Trying out new teaching strategies and seeing how they work in a real classroom.
* Working with my mentor teacher to help students master their instrument and deliver performances.
* Building connections and fostering positive relationships with my students and staff
* Getting to know a class for a full year, because I feel that I will be able to form more of a connection with them while also learning alongside them.
* Being a first-generation student in my family to earn a master’s degree.
* Offering a low-stress, supportive environment where students can learn a second language in engaging, fun, and meaningful ways.
* Being surrounded by art and creativity will inspire me as both a teacher and an artist!
On September 2, 2025, the 2025-2026 Rutgers-Camden MAT Program, Clinical Practice Interns met on the Rutgers-Camden campus for their kick-off meeting. MAT students are placed in P-12 classrooms in New Jersey schools to complete 8 months of field work under the mentorship of a cooperating teacher and a Rutgers-Camden field supervisor. pictured: 2025-2026 Clinical Practice Interns and RUC Field Supervisors
FALL 2025 Clinical Practice Collection Campaign: The clinical practice interns also generously collected and donated books and food. The books were donated to the local non-profit, Book Smiles, and the non-perishable food items were donated to the Rutgers-Camden Scarlet Raptor Nest Food Pantry. These items made a tremendous difference in the lives of those in our community- and that is what teachers do!
May 2025
Cooking in the Classroom
Congratulations to the first Family and Consumer Sciences MAT graduate, Rachel Ho! With Rachel’s expert guidance throughout this past school year, her students created some amazing, delectable dishes (see below).
May 2025
Lifting Her Voice
CONGRATULATIONS to Taylor Eccles! Taylor, a graduating MAT student, is singing the National Anthem at three of RUC’s 2025 graduation ceremonies: the School of Nursing, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Law School. You might have heard Taylor’s beautiful voice last year at several commencement ceremonies. We are proud of our MAT students and their amazing talents and accomplishments.
April 2025
2025 Graduate Research Fair
CONGRATULATIONS to Evelyn Fernandez! Evelyn, enrolled in the MAT: Special Education concentration, presented her Action Research Project: How to Use Multisensory Phonemic Awareness Activities and the Impacts on the Early Reading Skills of Preschool Students at the Graduate Research Fair.
April 2025
MAT Students Teaching in Camden
The MAT started a new partnership with the Camden Education Fund through their Camden Teacher Pipeline program. In our inaugural year of this partnership, four students chose to complete their student teaching in Camden schools. Through this unique program, students are placed for their two-semester clinical practice in Camden network partner schools (public and charter). Students are provided with additional support, including deliberate practice/pedagogy sessions, a stipend, and assistance securing employment after graduation in Camden City. This partnership proved a stellar experience for our MAT students, and we look forward to the students who will follow in this group’s footsteps.
April 2025
Former Students Share Best Practices and Job Hunting Tips
A special thank you to (L to R) Holly Heintz, Abby Woodcock, Nazia Allam, and Kaila Crozier, all former MAT graduates, who visited the current Professional Responsibility course to share their insights from their first year in the classroom as certified teachers.
April 2025
NJDOE DISTINGUISHED CLINICAL INTERN RUC NOMINEES:
CARLY KAIN & HALEY FELDMAN-HILLS
We are excited to announce the nominees for the 2025 Distinguished Clinical Intern Award hosted by the New Jersey Department of Education. These interns have shown noteworthy growth and excellence in their student teaching placements. A special thank you to the cooperating teachers who support and nurture our students and help them to become our next generation of impactful educators.
Carly Kain and Cooperating Teacher Olivia Lazaunikas
Cooperating Teacher Elisa Weitzman and Haley Feldman-Hills
April 2025
Student Teachers Making a Difference at Book Smiles
Student teachers from the 2024-2025 Clinical Practice cohort visited the local non-profit BookSmiles and volunteered to sort books and learn more about this amazing organization. We value our relationship with founder Larry Abrams who took time to show our students how to give the gift of reading to their students.
March 2025
Kappa Delta Pi Initiation
Congratulations to the 2025 Kappa Delta Pi recipients. Kappa Delta Pi is a National Professional Organization and Honor Society for Educators dedicated to creating lifelong learning opportunities to pre-service and practicing educators by providing equitable and quality education for everyone.
