Emergent Educators Advisory Council 2nd Year Reflections: Logan Mackenzie (Oregon)

This story is part of a three-part series sharing reflections from the second-year members of RSC’s Emergent Educators Advisory Council. It features the perspective of Logan Mackenzie, a graduate of the Oregon Rural Teacher Corps. Click here to view the reflections of Bethany Schnetzler and Betty Jones. 

Rural Schools Collaborative’s Emergent Educators Advisory Council (EEAC) is an opportunity for early-career teachers to form a peer network, receive professional development, and engage in a place-based grant that supports projects connecting classroom and community. Participants, who are in their first three years of credentialed teaching, are graduates of teacher preparation programs within RSC’s Rural Teacher Corps Community of Learners. Of the 2025-26 council, three members of the 12-person community were also participants in the 2024-25 council, and served in a leadership role during their second year. 

The three returning members were Bethany Schnetzler (a graduate of the Monmouth College TARTANS, Illinois Regional Hub), Betty Jones (Appalachian Future Educators at Morehead State University, Appalachia Regional Hub), and Logan Mackenzie (Eastern Oregon University’s Oregon Rural Teacher Corps, Oregon Regional Hub). Following the completion of their second year, in which they helped plan and facilitate cohort meetings, support RSC’s Grants in Place program, and more, Bethany, Betty, and Logan offered reflections from their two years on the council. 

In this story, Logan shares her perspective:

Logan is a graduate of Eastern Oregon University’s Oregon Rural Teacher Corps, and now teaches 3rd grade at Powder Valley Schools in North Powder Oregon, the school she attended as a student and where her mother still teaches today. Logan joined the council after two years of teaching, and after two years on the EEAC will be sticking around as a third-year leader in the program. 

For Logan, joining was an opportunity to connect with educators across the country and widen her network. She shares that “It was just the opportunity to experience other regions. I don't think I realized how far stretched it was going to be, which I really appreciated. You kind of get a little narrow-minded, in your own little community, and you don't really realize that other places are experiencing the same challenges or have the amazing opportunities that you get to receive as a rural school.” 

Logan likens saying ‘yes’ to programs such as the Emergent Educators Advisory Council as opening a door that can have a snowball-effect for future opportunities: “A big motivator was just that when you open a door, you don't know how many other doors you could walk through. So that was a main motivator, for me, is that this could open a lot of opportunities for me, which it has, and a lot of good connections, and just things that I wouldn't have been able to say yes to or be a part of without opening the first door, being a part of the EEAC.” 

During her first year on the council, Logan used her grant to purchase 3D print pens, which she viewed as an opportunity to break out of the proverbial textbook teaching and bring topics to life. She recalls that with the pens, “we have done a lot of various activities. We make our name templates to go on our desks to start the new year off as an icebreaker, and we make different colors that represent different things, and so I've been able to use them through seasonal activities, and then at Christmas time we make ornaments with them…. We did some space stuff with them during our space unit, and so just having that opportunity to bring additional resources in the classroom has been really cool for us, because funding is fairly tight.”

During her second year, Logan notes that a highlight was working with council members on brainstorming grant ideas and writing the applications. “That was one of my favorite experiences so far, because there's so many people that have such cool ideas, and I was like, ‘oh, I want to do that, oh, I want to do that!’ Having that outside perspective was really cool to me, because there's a lot of things that people think of that I didn't think of. So, and that's what I encouraged, in my group that I was kind of leading, is to really think outside the box. I just loved reading everyone's ideas, and it was really cool to also read ideas from across different regions of  their different opportunities that they could do within their schools and outside communities.”

Logan found additional support to buy more pens, to create a full classroom set, and has found partnership with a local science education group to bring more experiences into her classroom. She reflects that she would encourage new teachers to say ‘yes’ to opportunities like the EEAC, to open those doors for themselves, and engage with wider networks of rural educators. 

Rural Schools Collaborative is deeply thankful for the participation of our Regional Hub Partners in supporting the Emergent Educators Advisory Council. Special thanks to Dave Dallas for his stewardship of RSC’s Oregon Regional Hub and for nominating Logan to the EEAC.