When Classrooms Meet Communities: Speaker series uplifts students, teachers in Appalachia

Over the past year, nearly 900 students of all ages from 12 school districts in rural Appalachian Ohio and West Virginia had the opportunity to hear from leaders in their community, listening to their unique stories and careers as professionals. Those speakers were brought into the classroom by pre-service teachers at one of four Ohio University (OU) Regional Higher Education (RHE) campuses, as part of the Rural Teacher Corps, a collaborative program between OU RHE and Building Bridges to Careers (BB2C).

The speaker series program is facilitated by BB2C, and is a part of the Community and Career Connected Learning (CCCL) workshop series at BB2C. Both BB2C and OU Regional Higher Education anchor RSC’s Ohio Hub. Ohio University Eastern’s Rural Teacher Corps was launched with the help of an RSC Catalyst Initiative Grant and is part of the the Rural Educator Ecosystem: Community of Learners.

22 teacher candidates, from the Appalachian-serving Eastern, Lancaster, Southern, and Zanesville campuses, participated in the workshop during their courses Curriculum Development (Spring 2025) and Teaching with Literature (Fall 2025). Bringing a guest speaker into the classroom during their fieldwork experience is a core component of the workshop. These workshops are facilitated jointly by Jacqueline Yahn, Ohio University Eastern Middle Childhood Program Coordinator and associate professor of Middle Childhood Education, and Emily Bentley, Education Engagement Specialist at BB2C. BB2C and Ohio University collaborate closely to infuse Community and Career Connected Learning into all aspects of teacher preparation.

The core assignment, titled Neighbor of the Week, is an experiential project that empowers students to identify, recruit, and facilitate the enriching experience of bringing a guest speaker into the classroom. Pre-service teachers lead every step of the way, from identifying and engaging good candidates, coordinating the visit with their mentor teacher, and facilitating the experience itself. Emily sees this as a vital skill: “BB2C's partnership with Ohio University’s Regional Higher Education campuses helps to create future teachers who enter the profession already connected to their communities.”

With the support of BB2C in bringing in their first guest speaker, the workshop creates an environment for learning and building confidence. Emily describes that “helping future teachers design and facilitate a classroom speaker experience gives them a safe space to practice a real community and career connected learning strategy they will absolutely use later. They discover that they can reach out to professionals, gather resources, and create meaningful learning moments for their students and for themselves.” Speakers represented workforce sectors such as agriculture and food, finance, STEM, government and public administration, public safety, and human services.

In reflecting upon the experience, a common theme amongst the pre-service teachers who participated in the workshop was the newfound confidence in engaging the community. Jessica Schwartz, a student at OU’s Eastern Campus, felt that “the greatest reward of this assignment was seeing that I was capable of handling something that I will most likely be required to do in the future. This gave me confidence in myself, that I have the skills needed to connect my students with their community.”

Another student, Connor Bell of the Lancaster Campus, felt similarly: “I think that the greatest reward was being able to learn a new skill like finding a guest speaker. It's usually very intimidating to try and find someone and then ask them to come in due to the time commitment on both sides, but it's also really rewarding to be able to provide resources to the students and get them thinking about the future. I would absolutely want to bring in a guest speaker for my future classes.”

This comfortability and understanding of the power of bringing in guest speakers gives teachers a marketable skill– career-connected learning– in their toolbox as they near graduation and prepare to look for jobs. Dr. Yahn shares that the speaker series project “is a vital component of our partnership, as it gives our teacher education students the opportunity to form a working relationship with BB2C– a relationship that significantly enhances their job applications and future careers in the region.”

For Emily, she sees the impact across the educational ecosystem, touching students, teachers, businesses, and uplifting communities. “Successful students, prosperous businesses, thriving communities" is the vision that drives BB2C. When young people see real career pathways in front of them, they’re more likely to build their lives and futures in the region. Strengthening educator-community connections matters, for our classrooms and communities as a whole. The ripple effect of this workshop series is huge. With just two workshop series, 22 teacher-candidates helped nearly 900 PK–12 students meet a career speaker. That kind of reach is exactly why investing in teacher preparation is so powerful. When you equip one educator, you uplift hundreds of young people.”