Pictured above: (Left to right) Juan Dacosta, Michael Wright and Triston Williams are the first cohort of students in the Call Me MISTER program at USF’s St. Petersburg campus.
Courtesy of USF
By Molly Ryan
The Call Me MISTER program introduced its first cohort of three students last November.
With USF’s dedication to preparing future leaders, the university hopes to increase that number.
USF published a press release announcing that the program, housed at USF St. Petersburg, introduced its first 2021-2022 cohort of students.
Each student signed commitment letters during a ceremony solidifying their dedication to becoming teachers in Pinellas County and upholding the program’s values.
USF is the only school in Florida with a licensed Call Me MISTER program, an acronym for Mentors Instructing Students Toward Effective Role Models, which was introduced to the St. Petersburg campus through the College of Education in January of 2021 and aimed toward increasing the number of male teachers of color in Pinellas County elementary schools with large populations of at-risk students.
Its first cohort includes one graduate student, Juan Dacosta, and two undergraduate students, Michael Wright and Triston Williams.
“Because I went to school in Pinellas County for 12 years, I understood the premise of the whole program and why it’s necessary and important,” Dacosta, who has a master’s degree in business administration and is now earning a master’s in education, said. “For me, without thought, I had to do it because it allows me to give something back to the community.”
The program, founded and based at Clemson University, is funded by private donors and provides tuition assistance for approved areas of studies; academic, social, and cultural support systems; assistance with job placement and the opportunity to attend a national summer conference.
In return, its graduates must teach in low-income and urban elementary schools for every year they receive the program’s benefits.
“The commitment isn’t a one-way street. It’s very much reciprocal,” said Brenda Walker, the program’s director and professor in exceptional student education at the USF Tampa campus. “You have the unwavering support; you have the commitment and the investment of multiple USF individuals and our partners at Pinellas County schools,” she said in the press release.
Walker, the former associate dean of education at USF’s St. Petersburg campus, played a big role in securing the campus’s Call Me MISTER license.
According to a 2014 study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, despite “ethnic and racial minorities” making up half of the student population in public schools, 80% of teachers are white and 77% are female. The study, published in 2017, also found that of the 20% of non-white teachers, only 2% were Black men.
Another 2017 study by the Institute of Labor Economics found that “exposure to at least one black teacher in grades 3-5 increases the likelihood that persistently low-income students of both sexes aspire to attend a four-year college.”
The Call Me MISTER program strives to break barriers and harness hope for elementary school children by creating role models that not only provide support but relate to them too.
“I’ve always had the desire to leave a positive impact on those around me and be a mentor to someone. The program provides that and assists me in the process of becoming a teacher, which is a field that lacks diversity,” Williams, one of the students in the cohort, said in the press release.
Similarly, Wright, a fellow member of the program, expressed the need for more diversity in schools.
“I’ve never had a male teacher of color, so I believe expanding this underrepresented group will inspire children and teach them that someone who looks like them can work in a highly-respected profession,” Wright said. “As I go through the program, I hope to learn how to be an amazing educator and leave an everlasting impression with the students I encounter.”
In recent years, student diversity at USF has taken an overall dip in comparison to past numbers.
With programs like Call Me MISTER, USF has shown commitment toward increasing enrollment and opportunities for students of color. University officials also hope to expand the program to the Tampa and Sarasota-Manatee campuses.
“It’s a calling as a public servant. It’s an opportunity to give back to society,” said Sandra Vernon-Jackson, coordinator of the Call Me MISTER program and instructor of mathematics education at the USF St. Petersburg campus. “When it comes to education, we’ve been losing individuals. There’s a low rate of men going into the teaching profession.”
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