School of Education
Experiences & Opportunities
Student Teaching
Professional experiences provide a meaningful real-world component to the educational experience. For Education majors, this means a lot of time developing skills in actual classrooms.
When Early Childhood/Special Education students graduate from Westminster, they have already spent literally thousands of hours in real PreK-4 classrooms, which means they are ready for their own classrooms.
Faculty-Student Education Research Projects
Engaged classroom teachers explore questions that arise from their interactions with children. Education faculty members offer essential demonstrations of teachers researching key issues through faculty-student research projects.
Each year Early Childhood Education and Special Education preservice teachers are invited by faculty members to join various on-going or new faculty collaborative research projects.
For more information, please contact the Chair of the School of Education, Dr. Rene Pico.
Drinko Center for Undergraduate Research
The Drinko Center supports student research and creative work in all majors and at all academic levels. Drinko provides financial grants that support student projects or travel to national conferences, including the Summer Research Fellows, which provides stipends to student-faculty research teams.
The Center also organizes the Undergraduate Research and Arts Celebration (URAC), a day-long event showcasing the collaborative work between Westminster faculty and students.
Honors Program
Westminster College’s Honors Program believes that the life of the mind is best cultivated when students take what they have learned in the classroom and go out into the world. That’s why our program builds international travel into its sequence of interdisciplinary, global honors seminars with a trip to Greece.
The curriculum gives you the opportunity to learn about human history and nature from multiple perspectives, while also supporting the development of strong leadership, communication, and writing skills. It will also connect you to a vibrant community of students from across campus who are excited about learning.
Center for the Environment
The mission of the Center for the Environment is to connect people with each other and the natural world. CfE strives to create an understanding of the dynamic relationships among society, our environment, and the economy. Students from all majors benefit from the Center’s programming and resources, which are designed to foster critical thinking, creative expression, data collection and analysis, ethical judgements, entrepreneurial endeavors, and human wellbeing.
CfE initiatives include the Westminster Bee Company, a student-led business that hand-bottles and sells the honey produced in the almost 30 beehives that make up the Westminster College apiary.
Professional Networking Symposium
Open to all majors, the Professional Networking Symposium is an annual event designed to help students and young alumni better understand potential paths after graduation, including career and graduate school options.
The Symposium includes a career fair, breakout sessions and the opportunity to learn to network. Sessions are designed to address specific topics and interests and are moderated by experienced professionals.
Study Abroad
Studying abroad is a life-changing educational experience for many of our students. Our Office of Global Engagement developed different kinds of study abroad opportunities, designed to meet varying curricular and economic situations.
We offer traditional semester-long, individual study abroad opportunities in more than 30 countries. Also, students can elect to take short-term study abroad opportunities, such as a May travel course, or a Study Tour, which is a travel experience tied to a regular on-campus course or co-curricular program.
Westminster College Planetarium
The Planetarium is a 45 seat full-dome theater housed in the Hoyt Science Center. Professors and other astronomical professionals take students and members of the community on a tour throughout the depths of outer space through multimedia astronomy shows free of charge.
The state-of-the-art projection systems include a Spitz A5 analog star projector and a Warped Media digital fulldome projector, joining forces to create the most memorable astronomical experience.
Westminster Entrepreneurship Center (WEC)
WEC offers students in any major the opportunity to be exposed to concept creation, innovation of ideas and business ownership strategies. These activities are nurtured through practiced entrepreneurial exposures, state-of-the-art facilities, leadership collaboration, dynamic entrepreneurial engagements, competitions and events designed to offer students an unparalleled exposure to real world practical experiences.
Student Organizations & Honor Societies
Council for Exceptional Children (Student Chapter)
CEC is an international community of educators who are the voice and vision of special and gifted education. Our mission is to improve the quality of life for individuals with exceptionalities and their families worldwide through professional excellence and advocacy. The purpose of this chapter shall be to advance the education of individuals with exceptionalities and to promote related educational, scientific, and charitable purposes.
Kappa Delta Pi
Kappa Delta Pi, International Honor Society in Education, is dedicated to scholarship and excellence in education. The Delta Mu chapter was founded at Westminster College in 1937. The goal of KDP is to enrich your growth in the field of education through peer support, professional development, and mentorship. KDP members become part of a community that enhances teacher development through chapter events. These events include valuable teaching experiences through local school partnerships and professional learning opportunities. In addition, Kappa Delta Pi provides robust community and resources to support new teachers in their first years in the classroom.
Students who have completed six education courses and have earned a minimum 3.0 GPA will be invited to join KDP.
Little Library
Lttle Library is a book club founded in 2018 for students who believe readers are nurtured both at school and at home. Our mission is to increase and expand the home libraries of high-needs children. We believe readers deserve to see themselves and their diverse communities portrayed through authentic children’s literature that highlights their strengths and common bonds across cultures. Membership is open to all dual certification majors (Early Childhood and Special Education) and Child and Family Studies majors.
STEAM+ERS
STE(A)M+ERS is a Westminster College organization established to inspire undergraduate students to (1) cultivate their interests in a variety of bodies of knowledge; especially in the areas of natural sciences, humanities, the visual and literary arts, and education; (2) introduce research possibilities and employment offerings in innovative careers and fields; (3) develop and enhance leadership skills by performing activities, demonstrations and community outreach events; and (4) serve the College and its surrounding community.