Brenda Conley (far left), chair of education programs in UMUC's Graduate School, and Jacqueline Frierson (far right), director of the Resident Teacher Certification program in the Graduate School, pose with MARCO candidates (left to right) Alison Paras, Troy Anderson, Heather Ewing, Robert Hobbs, and Chris Skoglund.

MARCO Brings New Talent to Teaching

By Chip Cassano

Steven M. Newman was a dentist with a family and a thriving practice when a car accident in 1997 destroyed his shoulder and effectively catapulted him onto a new career path—one that led him to UMUC and, ultimately, the new MARCO (Maryland Alternative Route to Certification Option) program. The program will allow him to earn teaching certification after as little as 14 weeks of online instruction and one year of teaching.

Steven M. Newman, from his days working as a dentist on a kibbutz in Israel.

“When I left dentistry, one of my patients gave me a copy of Kindergarten Cop and told me, ‘You should be a teacher.’ It took me a few years to realize it, but she was right,” Newman said.

Odd as it might seem, working for the Arthritis Foundation helped convince him.

“While I was there, I designed a program called Play It Safe,” Newman said. “It was designed to be delivered to a gym class; the kids would sit in the bleachers and I would get up and talk to them about maintaining the health of their joints, protecting themselves from sports injuries, and so on.

“It was springtime, and here I was talking to these kids about arthritis, something that might not affect them for 25 years, if ever. It was a pretty tough crowd, but I managed to pull it off and engage the kids. That was the first time I experienced the immediate gratification that I used to get on a daily basis as a dentist. And I said, ‘You know what? This is where I’m going.’”

The MARCO program—a cooperative venture involving the Maryland State Department of Education, UMUC, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the Prince George’s County Public School System—has attracted other, equally enthusiastic and equally promising, candidates.

Troy Anderson is a client account representative for Xerox; his wife, Sharon, was a financial analyst with PricewaterhouseCoopers. When the couple grew tired of the constant stresses associated with pursuing careers in corporate America, they began to look for other options.

“Sharon had wanted to be a teacher for a long time,” Troy Anderson said, “but I wasn’t sure, at first. I thought college-level teaching might appeal to me, but [pursuing] a PhD was daunting.” Working with young children convinced him that he had found his calling, and he and Sharon both were invited to join the first MARCO cohort.

Other candidates come from similarly diverse backgrounds. Chris Skoglund graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1997 with a 3.7 grade-point average and a degree in biology. He had planned to become a doctor, but, in the year following graduation, realized that he had “no interest in attending medical school.” What he wanted to do, he said, was teach.

Heather Ewing graduated from California State University–Long Beach with a degree in neuroscience and minors in chemistry and dance. She planned to become an optometrist, but when her husband—who serves in the military—relocated to the Washington, D.C., area, she reassessed her goals. She had already taught dance and worked in student ministry, so she knew that a career in teaching might be a good fit.

“I looked into substitute teaching,” she said, “but when I heard about the MARCO program, I knew it was the perfect thing for me, personally.”

And Robert Hobbs, who holds a psychology degree from University of Maryland, Baltimore County, is a photographer, retail manager, and for several years ran a comic book store.

These prospective teachers, along with dozens of other MARCO candidates, promise to bring a wealth of talent and experience to Maryland’s classrooms for years to come.

In the meantime, Steven Newman—after substitute teaching at Tilden Middle School, in Rockville, Maryland—has already been asked to finish out the year as a full-time teacher at Tilden.

“I’m really excited about it,” Newman said. “It’s a fabulous school, the kids are great, and it’s just an incredible opportunity. It’s just another way to say that I know I am doing the right thing.”