From Palm Beach Atlantic University

As friends and classmates growing up in the Cayman Islands, Chekiya Tatum and Zorina McCoon grew up knowing they were called to teach.

Before the two ventured northward to enroll in the School of Education and Behavioral Studies at Palm Beach Atlantic University, they both worked as teacher’s aides in their home country.

“God kept pulling me and telling me that he wanted me to teach,” said McCoon, who, with Tatum, will graduate from PBA on Saturday.

After completing a teaching practicum in Palm Beach County schools last spring, Tatum and McCoon finished their senior year this fall with a semester-long international teaching fellowship at Triple C School, a private Christian school in Grand Cayman.

McCoon and Tatum are the first PBA education students to complete an international fellowship in the Cayman Islands. Two other PBA students have completed international teaching fellowships in the Dominican Republic, and one of them, Carley Hubbard, is now a full-time teacher at Santiago Christian School in the Dominican Republic.

PBA’s senior education students spend a semester at both a public and private school. The fellowship program allows them to do part of their student teaching at schools that are members of the Association of Christian Schools International.

The name of the school where Tatum and McCoon taught, Triple C, stands for Creative Christian Character. With assistance from cooperating teachers, McCoon taught a first-grade class and Tatum taught second grade.

For both student teachers, the experience has solidified their desire to work in the classroom. After graduation Tatum and McCoon will to return to the Cayman Islands work in public schools, fulfilling a commitment they made to their government for providing them with scholarships.

During their time on campus, both McCoon and Tatum were active in Kappa Delta Epsilon, the education honor society. Tatum has served as the chapter’s president and its chaplain, while McCoon has served as the KDE Workship coordinator.

The students volunteered with PBA’s Sailfish Club and were involved with the school’s international festival. They also worked at a booth at an event to raise awareness for the fight against racism.

Tatum, who has several teachers in her family, will graduate from PBA with honors. She said the professors at PBA have equipped her well to pursue a vocation that began years earlier when she tutored a cousin and taught Sunday school lessons at her church.

“The faculty did more than just teach me how to be a teacher,” she said. “They also led by example.”

IMAGE: Zorina McCoon (left) and Chekiya Tatum. Palm Beach Atlantic University (PBA) is a private, Christ-centered college in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA.

For more on this story go to: http://www.pba.edu/international-teaching-fellowship-Cayman-Islands-14