Brooke Tharp plans to become an elementary school teacher in the Rolla area. She is originally from Rolla, Missouri, and hopes to stay locally and make a difference with young students.

“I love the STEM focus here at S&T, which will give my students an advantage in the future,” says Tharp, a senior in education. “I think this is the best option for an education degree.”

Tharp’s future plans seem to go hand-in-hand with the current high demand for educators. In the spring of 2022, 100% of S&T’s education graduates were employed as Missouri teachers in their certification area and 100% of S&T students passed their certification exam before graduation.

Tharp and her cohort of teachers that S&T graduates will be able to make an immediate impact in the lives of young people. She has put her vision into action at Missouri S&T’s Child Development Center, where she has worked while getting hands-on learning in her field. Tharp says that the center, which opened in January 2022, is just one sign of the campus’s growth.

“The campus is always changing over time to create an expansive campus,” says Tharp. “The professors continue to evolve to meet instructional needs and the students evolve into entirely new people with great ambition, opportunity and determination to be successful. I think every aspect of campus is continuously evolving.”