Valerie Scamardella '18

Why Valerie chose Rider

Valerie Scamardella '18 began her journey to Rider as a high school student in the Tomorrow’s Teachers program, an elective one-year course taught in schools nationwide. The program gives high school students an opportunity to actively explore the teaching profession and earn college credit. Dr. Tracy Garrett, a professor of teacher education in Rider’s College of Education and Human Services, developed Rider's course and has taught it since its inception. “My goal is to expose them to the profession and get them to challenge their prior conceptions about teaching and learning,” says Dr. Garrett.

"A great benefit of being in the Tomorrow's Teachers program was having the opportunity to take Dr. Garrett's Effective Classroom Management course. This allowed me to come to Rider once per week and participate in the class with current Rider students," says Valerie. "Even though I was still in high school, I already felt like I was part of the Rider community."

Valerie always knew she wanted to become a teacher and considered many colleges in New Jersey. “When I did my research, I was blown away at all of the credentials Rider had, compared to numerous other institutions.”

Rider's impact on Valerie's success

Valerie became involved on campus as soon as she came to Rider. “On the very first week, I went to the clubs and organizations fair and signed up for many different clubs and organizations.” Throughout her time at Rider, she was a part of all three education clubs Student Education Association (SEA), the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), and Kappa Delta Pi (KDP), the education honors society. In her senior year, she was the Vice President of both the CEC and KDP and was admitted into Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK), the national leadership honors society. Valerie even found time to join the club lacrosse team along with multiple intramural sports.

Inside the classroom, her second major of integrated science and mathematics helped her to develop lesson plans and identify connections between content areas. The program also prepared her well for interviews for post-grad opportunities. “These excellent programs at Rider distinguish you from other candidates. After taking courses in the Integrated Math and Sciences program, I felt more than ready to begin STEM projects in my classroom,” says Valerie. 

Continued success

After finishing her student teaching position in December of 2018, she earned the opportunity to take a position in the Howell school district in Howell, NJ, and has been teaching there ever since. In her two full years of teaching, she has been in a resource room, and a 3rd and 4th-grade classroom. Valerie also panels at Rider occasionally to speak to current and prospective students about her SEA and CEC experiences. 

Advice for future educators

Navigating teaching during a global pandemic is not something any educator is used to dealing with, be it a professor for 50 years or a student-teacher. One thing that stuck out to Valerie was to be “extremely flexible” in light of the ever-changing world. As long as you give it your all the children will be open and willing to learn.