On March 6, 2025, a group of Beloit College students and faculty attended the “Coffee and Conversations with Legislators” event at the Assembly Parlor in the State Capitol in Madison. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, the event provided an opportunity for future educators to engage with state lawmakers on key issues impacting education in Wisconsin.

The group included nine Beloit College students, all of whom are preparing to student teach during the 2025-26 academic year, along with three faculty members. Student teaching is an intensive experience that requires future educators to spend significant time in the classroom during the school year, coinciding with the Beloit College semester. Many student teachers begin their placements before the semester starts and may continue working after it ends.

In addition to their classroom responsibilities, student teachers dedicate many hours outside of school to lesson planning, grading student work, and reflecting on their teaching practices. Balancing these demands with an outside job can be difficult, making it challenging to meet basic living expenses. As a result, education programs statewide, including Beloit College’s, are joining forces to lobby the legislature for financial assistance to help student teachers meet basic living expenses during the student teaching semester.

This event allowed our students to connect directly with policymakers and advocate for the support they need. Here’s what students had to say about the event:

“I took away many things from talking to people from different colleges and getting to know how their education programs work. It was very nice to hear from Mark (Spreitzer, senator) about his opinion and how he feels about certain things and also how he let us talk about how we feel about it as well.”

- Paloma Reyes ’26

 

“I think the biggest takeaway for me was how much Mark Spreitzer was willing to listen to us. I also liked talking with the Lawrence grad and their program having it set up for students to have to take a ninth semester. It is still a financial burden but you have less activities to do outside of student teaching.”

- Sydney Harbison ’25

(P.S. Beloit has the ninth semester option, too!)

 

“I had learned a lot from not only the adults, but mainly the students. There was a lot to advocate for, especially financial support for student teachers with Mark. I believe we learned a lot from how our teaching environments are different (at different campuses) and how we possibly can get grants for it. I liked hearing different stories about others’ experiences and how they are impacted from their school area.”

- Samantha Friedrichsohn ’26

 

“The event for me was really interesting and very insightful. The biggest insight for me was being able to talk to and get to know other aspiring educators because Beloit can be a small bubble, so interacting with people outside of that bubble is always crucial in order to see other people’s perspectives especially in a field like education.”

- Kendric Chen ’26