Majoring in Secondary Education at LCU: Dr. Josh Wheeler and Jadyn Martinez

Keegan Stewart : Hello and welcome. This is the LCU podcast, a podcast that will bring stories, insights and people from Lubbock Christian University. I'm your host, Keegan Stewart, and I'm happy to be with you for another episode on today's podcast. We take a look at LCU's School of Education, particularly the area of secondary education. I sat down with Dr. Josh Wheeler, the program coordinator and senior education major, Jadyn Martinez.
We talked about all the ins and outs of this program. Jadyn shared some awesome personal experiences and stories, and Josh illustrates what makes LCU's School of Education unique and special. I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Dr. Josh Wheeler and Jadyn Martinez.
Thank you all so much for being here today.
Dr. Josh Wheeler : Yeah, man, thanks for having us.
Keegan Stewart : Really excited for this one. Before we get into the conversation surrounding secondary education here at LCU. Dr. Wheeler We actually have a birthday that we need to address in the room, and that is Jadyn Martinez. All right. Yeah. Happy birthday.
Jadyn Martinez : Good way to spend a birthday. I'm excited to talk to you guys, and.
Dr. Josh Wheeler : We're blessed to spend this birthday with you.
Keegan Stewart : Well, thank you. Really. Thank you for letting us be a part of.
Dr. Josh Wheeler : That's awesome.
Jadyn Martinez : Yeah. So excited.
Keegan Stewart : Josh, is there a song that you want to.
Dr. Josh Wheeler : You know, we could sing, like you said.
Keegan Stewart : When you said we. I know you can sing. I know that.
Dr. Josh Wheeler : We got the copyrights for this thing.
Keegan Stewart : That's our point. Yeah. I don't know if we do. Well, you're a reporter. You're thinking ahead.
Dr. Josh Wheeler : I am thinking ahead. I will serenade you, though, here. Okay. In just a little bit.
Jadyn Martinez : Okay. All right. Yeah. I can't wait.
Keegan Stewart : Perfect. And I like it. I like it. So we're going to. That's going to happen. Love thinking it. Dr. Josh Wheeler, you're an instrumental part of the secondary education program at LCU. What makes this program unique?
Dr. Josh Wheeler : Well, there's there's not just one thing that makes it unique. Obviously, every program is built of people. And really the people in this program are faculty and staff. The students that we have in here is really what makes this program special. I am so blessed to be able to work with some of the best Christian educators I've ever met in my life.
Each and every day in the school education, we have the opportunity to to train future teachers, to work with our students, to watch them then graduate and go out and continue on that mission that all of us most of us graduate from the School of Ed and are alums of this place. And so we kind of get to continue that legacy there.
And so obviously the people is one of the things that makes it unique. But the other thing is really the mission of what we do, which is we see ourselves as not just preparing teachers that know their stuff and know how to, you know, the different instructional strategies and all the stuff that teachers have to know. But these are Christian educators that are going out into a mission field to impact lives each and every day, right?
To take the light of Christ into their classrooms, to love students, to love their colleagues and the parents and the families that they work with. And really, we do see this as our calling, as our mission. And so to be able to work in a place where we can talk about that explicitly, right, not just what we do as teachers, but why we do this and to remember that why and to carry that out.
I'm convinced that's why a lot of our teachers are so successful out there, because we understand what we're doing each day. Right. So that's what I would say makes this place unique, the people and the mission that we have.
Keegan Stewart : Jadyn, how how long did it decide when you were starting college? Okay. The School of Education. That's where I want to go. Have you known for a long time or was it meeting these guys and realizing, oh, that's. That's where I want to be?
Jadyn Martinez : Yeah, for sure. So I came in to LCU with a psychology major because that's what both my parents did, and they've done awesome, awesome things with it. But about a semester into that, I knew that that wasn't where I think God was calling me to be able to help people. And so I prayed about it a lot. And for some reason teaching just kept coming up.
So I was like, Alright, I'll change my major, I'll take one education class and see if this feels like what I'm supposed to do. I took Foundations of education with Dr. Wheeler and after that semester I was in like, it is just so special. He's already talked about it a lot, but the people that are in that department, I think I could go to any education school and be a good teacher.
Like I feel like I could do that, but this Education Department sets you up to be a great teacher, like learning how to be effective and all the ways and that mission of what a special like opportunity you have to be a teacher and a different kind of mission field. It is because even though you can't directly talk about God and like public schools and stuff, you're getting a chance to be with students every single day for at least a year and like be a adult that they can trust because not all of these kids have that.
And so it's just such a special, special job and where you get to be a part of these kid's life and hopefully be a source of joy that they get to have if they don't have it anywhere else or just another source of joy for them. And you get to help them in ways that are just different and just than any other job, I think.
And so that's been a big reason why I came into the Education Department and have stuck with it because I've had professors and the people around me like we just got done debriefing about our two week unit where we went in the schools and got to teach for a real eighth grade classroom for me for two weeks and getting to hear all my classmates.
And these are people that love kids and want to see kids grow and want to see them become everything that they can be. And that's what it's all about. So I think education is just a really, really special job for people who want to help kids and help them become everything that they can be because there's just so much potential and all these kids and you get a special job in helping them see that.
And so that's why I'm here.
Dr. Josh Wheeler : Amen. Amen.
Keegan Stewart : So good. Dr. Wheeler. You know, School of Education's abroad, Major. There's lots of different areas that students can go for. Our prospective students listening, you should major in secondary ed here if you're specifically interested in what?
Dr. Josh Wheeler : Yeah, we've got in our secondary education program, we've got really two focuses. You've got middle school ed, which is those certifying from fourth grade all the way up to eighth grade. And then you've got what we call secondary, which is those they want to teach high school. It's cert, they certify seventh through 12th grade, but typically they teach ninth through 12th grade in high school.
So really, those are the two levels that you've got there. We've got a lot some people that know they want to be teaching high school kids, maybe they also want to be involved with coaching as well, which all our coaches here in the state of Texas teach also in the classroom. That's they're hired by principals to teach and kind of coach on the side there.
But I always tell all our our future coaches, the best coaches are the best teachers as well because they know how to connect with kids and set high expectations and stuff. But whether they want to do that at a high school or a lot of times people think, oh, you're crazy to do middle school, you know, that was such an awkward and weird phase in their life, which is true, and there's reasons why.
But for many of our students that get in there working with middle school kids and they see what an impact you can have as a loving, caring adult and just kind of the transformation that you help them go through to set them up for success. They're headed into high school. So for secondary ed, those are two main programs.
Obviously, we've got elementary as well. Our elementary department. But in secondary, those are two options.
Keegan Stewart : What what was it that led you to secondary, Jadyn? What like what do you specifically want to do if you can handpick it a year, two years? Yeah. No.
Jadyn Martinez : So the super cool thing, just about education in general and then secondary also I think for me has been that it just hits all these different interests of mine. Like people have always told me that I'm easily fascinated and I am. But there's just so many things that go into teaching, like the psychology I am interested in that, but it definitely is a huge part of education.
So you get to learn about that and you get to work with the people. But then it's the relationships and getting to grow with people and have that. But then it's also learning how to be a good communicator and how to do that effectively where kids learn and then just all these different things and different interests can come.
And then for me personally, with secondary, you get to pick one subject that you want to go super deep in. And so I coming into college, have learned to love history because of some of our awesome history professors here. But for me, that's it. And I want to show kids how we've gotten this story of where we are now and how can they continue that story later.
And so for me, secondary education was getting to have that focus and just the special age that these kids are at. For me, I'm middle school, so I want to do the fourth through eighth because even though it is that awkward time and they're going through a lot, they're going through a lot and it's a very special time, a very like malleable time, if that makes sense.
Like it's a time when these kids need someone to be there for them, but it's also a time when they can really be directed into the right direction and set them up for success for high school. In these big next events that they're going to have high school and college and figuring out what is their life going to look like no matter what it's looked like before then for them.
So that's why I've done secondary instead of early education.
Keegan Stewart : Josh We heard a few moments ago Jadyn say some of her reasons why she appreciates LCU's School of Ed. What are your some some of your favorite things about being a part of this department and teaching in it?
Dr. Josh Wheeler : Yeah, I think it always comes down for me to relationships with people. When I was a student here, the professors and even my, you know, classmates and stuff that I was in school with really transformed me and set me up for success to go out there and to serve and to have the successes that I had. And so coming back here and getting to work with the faculty and the staff each and every day and our students, which are the best part, honestly, of what we do.
We love working with students. That's one of the blessings of being in education, is you get to meet so many new people and and build those relationships, though. I'll see. At the same time that's hard because in fact I was talking to some of them about their two week units. We preach relationship all the time with students and you build these really solid relationships and you get this great rapport and then you go on and you leave.
And even as a teacher, you might have for a year and you pour into them and they have a huge impact on you, then it almost feels like you're breaking up every year. You send them on to the next. But that that's part of what you do were grown people, right? And you're pouring into other people's lives and you have them for a short amount of time, but then you continue to pray for them as they move on to the next phase of life and those people that are pouring into them there.
And so here in the school and being able to do that with the people I get to do that with is really a huge blessing. Getting to see. Sometimes as teachers, we don't always get to see the fruits of our labor, right? But here at LCU, I've been able to see that. Now I've been here a decade and so see the successes of our students and how they're continuing to live out the mission.
And so that just that keeps you going, right? When you when you see that mission being lived out. So relationships and people would be the biggest part for me of what's impacted me.
Keegan Stewart : And what y'all are doing is having an immediate impact to the Lubbock community, to other communities where these LCU graduates go for many years in a row. Now, Josh, the placement rate for your teachers is 100%. These students graduate and they get a job. Just how it works. Yeah. What do you attribute that to? And do you have anything to add to that awesome statistic the school so proud of?
Dr. Josh Wheeler : Well, yeah, I think we're very, very blessed to have that. And I was talking to a principal the other day. I was out at the campus and we were talking about needs that he's got for teachers and he's looking for folks. And he said, I want you to know that when I get a stack applications, those LCU ones always kind of rise and sit at the top.
And I want to interview those people first because usually you guys just put out a great product. And I think there's a couple, couple of reasons why our school, our schools out here in our districts really love our students. First of all, like I said, they know their stuff, right? Whatever content is they that they are going to teach, they know it well.
But on top of that, they know how to teach it to students. Right, how to get it across. If students are struggling to understand or to learn, they know how to fill in those gaps in all the strategies that as a teacher they need to know. So the pedagogy side of what they do, we really intentionally try to make sure that they know it well and that they're good at what they do.
But even more than that is what I mentioned earlier about understanding the mission of what we do and why we do it right. That our teachers, because they're not just educators, but Christian educators. When they step into that school, into that classroom, they see their students with different eyes than, say, your normal teacher does. Right. And so they they have more patience than maybe sometimes they want to or would normally and bring that joy and that passion that enthuses them, that love and all that stuff, that we kind of train them and preach to them that you've got to do to be a great teacher.
They do those things, but they're also very ethical, moral people that don't just transform their own classrooms but really have an impact on the culture of a campus. Right. And so we've had principals tell us this, like your people impact their whole team in our campus and really help us go towards what we're wanting to do and who we want to be as a school.
And so that's great to hear. That's that's our our aim. Our goal is to try and put out teachers that do that. But honestly, again, it goes back to the why we do all this for the glory of God, right? This is how we live out our lives in service to God and His people, how we go love people we love God is through this service of education.
And so when you know that, when you step in that school every single day, you have a purpose, a mission as to why you're doing it. And it makes it easier. It's never easy, right? Jobs are hard. And when you're in the lives of people, especially sometimes students that have, they come from rough backgrounds sometimes and and are dealing with some really tough things.
This is not an easy profession, but I can't think of any better people than the Christian educators we have here to go in and to serve in the pour in. Now, it's important that they also take time to to refill their own cups, because you can only pour out so much. And if you're not being fed and being grown yourself, you run out, right.
So we talk about some of that of how do you do that? But that's that's what we feel called to do. And so even though it can be hard, we know why we're doing it.
Keegan Stewart : And Jadyn, you mentioned to week unit a moment ago that there's a there's a thorough process that goes into all of this. There's a reason why you all are so prepared come your senior year and in graduation time, why walk someone who wants to learn about it through that process? What is two week unit? What is what is methods?
What is student teaching? What is this process that ultimately gets you all ready to step into your own your own classroom?
Jadyn Martinez : So if you have your specialization, then you start taking those classes. So I had all those history classes that I was taking, but then you get into the pedagogy and education classes, and so we take foundations that just kind of lays the groundwork. I got to teach my first little mini lesson in that class, and I would probably laugh if I watched that back now because I've just grown so much.
But then you have psychology, educational psychology that takes you through all of that, just helping you understand your kids better. I had specifically middle school education with Mr. Geremek. That was awesome because we focused on those kids and those development and everything they're going through. And then this semester is our methods. BLOCK And that is the first semester of your senior year before you go into student teaching and methods is all just really setting you up for the real deal.
And then in November, this last two weeks for us is what we call the two week unit. And you get put with a teacher at Evans Middle School for us and that teacher hands their classroom over to you and says, Here, you can teach my kids for these two periods for two weeks straight. And so you make all the lesson plans for that two weeks.
They give you the standards and stuff that you have to teach them. But you come up with the activities and you're in charge of the class for two weeks and it is real world and it was challenging. But then like getting to do that really shows you what it's going to be like in the real world. And we need that experience.
I needed that experience because I had been set up for all this success. Like Dr. Willard said, like every single professor that I have had has spoken so much life into me about why are you doing this? And they make us write out our whys of education and we have to go back to it. And so like every time I go back to I'm reminded, like, God has got you to this, God has called you to be here for these people.
And so, like I get to go in no matter how rowdy I know these kids are going to be or difficult that day. I'm like, God has called me to do this. And something Dr. Ayres told us in one of our methods class this last semester was this prayer of just like praying before you go into class, God, let me see these students the way you see them.
Let me treat these students the way you would treat them. And then I went into my two week unit and so I'm all love. I had that ready to go. I was like, I love these kids and we're going to have so much fun. And then they were really loud and rowdy the first two days and I was struggling.
And so I went to both Dr. Boyer and Dr. Wheeler's office and was like, I just don't know how to get these kids to respect me and all this stuff. And I was I was like, I just want to love these kids the way God is loving them, but it's not working. But I learned a really good lesson in that methods thing from Dr. Wheeler.
Is that a part of loving them the way God loves them is also the tough love part. And that was a part that I was missing. And being like, If you're going to love them the way God loves them, you have to call them to be better than they are. And so that changed everything for me in those two weeks.
And so it's like it's just so awesome because these professors are here to help you and you get to have those one on one conversations of like, this is exactly what I'm going through and they help you with exactly that. And so every single professor has led us up to this point of taking over a classroom, trying it for ourselves.
So then next semester we'll get to do student teaching, where we'll be out at our schools, wherever were placed for the entire semester for 14 weeks we'll be in that same classroom and get to teach from bill to Bill at one point and then start doing interviews and hopefully get a job. We'll get a job with them.
Dr. Josh Wheeler : Oh, yeah, yeah.
Keegan Stewart : Yeah. Fantastic. As you're talking, I can't help but wonder, you know, just a real the real unique faculty and the creativity. What are what are some of your favorite memories that you'll look back on from the classroom activities that you did or things that happened? Yeah.
Jadyn Martinez : So I have some from all of them. The first one that comes to mind that was just really important and Dr. Wheeler kind of just spoke on this, but also from each of my professors, one thing that they've told us is that this is a challenging job. It's never going to be easy. Like you can always be better.
And so you could stress yourself out about being better all the time. But it's also super or important to take care of yourself. And so one class, Dr. Boyer, had us come in and I don't know what he said exactly or if we all just made this up, but we thought that day was going to be a really hard day in class.
Like, he's like, we got a lot of work to do and all this. And then he starts class and he pulls out a $20 bill from his wallet and he's like, All right, all we're going to do in class today is talk about if you had 3 hours of nothing to do and 20 bucks, how would you go and take care of yourself today?
And we all went around the room and talked about ways that we can take care of ourselves with just 20 bucks and a few hours and how important it is to take that time to recharge and refill that cup, because you are you're pouring out so much to all of these people all the time, but God is there to refill that and you've got to find the things that refill you.
So that was one lesson that I'll keep with me forever, especially when you have a family and all of this stuff that you also want to take care of it. They've just emphasized how important it is to take care of that. But also you can still be awesome at your job, but you got to take care of yourself first.
So that's one lesson. And then with both Dr. Wheeler and Dr. Boyer, we did these things called mpt’s this semester and they are fun. It's like you take one of the lessons you're going to teach in your two week unit and you get to teach it to your method's class first. So all of your classmates, college classmates. But the trick is that each of your college classmates is assigned a special student role.
So like someone is the disruptive student and someone is the overzealous student and one's inattentive student. And so it's all about like practicing your lesson, but also practicing the classroom management that's going to go with it. And so it was lots of fun and so stressful. And the other part of it is we video ourselves doing it. They had this cool camera set up with our phones and so we have to video ourselves giving this lesson, interacting with our disruptive people.
And there were all kinds of things that our classmates did. One person just like ran right out of the room as the disruptive student and.
Keegan Stewart : Any of them go to sleep.
Jadyn Martinez : Yeah. On the floor, like lay down on the floor. And then there's just people read books and throwing paper people's faces and all the fun stuff. So you get just like a little taste of what a real classroom is with your friends and classmates.
Dr. Josh Wheeler : And they thought it wasn't really going to be like that. And then they went out to their weekend. It's not like.
Jadyn Martinez : Oh, it was like, Oh, it's way, it's.
Dr. Josh Wheeler : Dinner and kind of stuff.
Jadyn Martinez : Yeah, but so great preparation. And then the video thing is also cool because they make us watch it back and we have to reflect with all of our professors and go, What are the areas? It's very cute how we say it. What are your glows and grows? What are the things you did really good on? But then what are all these things that you could work on?
And they're all very brutally honest. It's if you can't take criticism, work on that, but it's all good. It's very good and makes you better. So that's a very fun, challenging thing to.
Keegan Stewart : Do. That's great.
Dr. Josh Wheeler : I'd say, you know, the reason we do that and we do the criticism, I call it coaching. But one of those things is kind of like athletics. A lot of times I compare what we do to training and getting prepared for that next level. And and you hear athletes a lot of times when they'll go from one level to the next about how the speed of the game is so fast.
Right? But then eventually it slows down for them. But then they go to college and all sudden the game so much faster for them. And our teachers experience that quite a bit when they go from one thing to the next. You know, when you're in the classroom for the very first time where you do your in foundations, your very first lesson or whatever, it seems so crazy.
But then a couple of years later, you're used to doing that because you've done it a lot. And then you teach for your your peers and it's, you know, you're having to manage the classroom behavior in addition to all the instruction that you got, you're trying to spin all those plates all at once, but then you got to feel good about it.
And then you get out with real life kids and you do your two week unit and it's the next level again. And everybody kind of freaks out, you know. But by the end of the two weeks, it's funny because you hear them and they were all talking this morning over with Dr. Ayers. We hear this every semester. Oh, by the end of the two weeks, man, I had that and I was doing much better.
Well, then you'll go next semester and they'll start clinical teaching. It's going to be the whole thing all over again. But at the end of those 14 weeks. So you have to you have to, you know, challenge people, but you also have to coach them. Right. And you have to say, okay, what are we doing? Well, but what do we need to get better at?
And almost every August, when when our teachers graduate and they've got their first jobs, I'll get text messages or calls back from those first year teachers that say thank you for putting me through the rigor that you guys did in methods in clinical teaching. Because my first year, I'm so much better prepared than all these other folks I'm starting with.
You know, I had one this this last August, tell me, in fact, I'm mentoring some of the other first years and they themselves are a first year. But they were so much ahead of the game because we put them through all that stuff here that they were prepared year one to go out there and to be ready and serve and do what they needed to do.
So it's hard at the time, but it's like coaching and you want to prepare them for where they're going to be. Good coaches are going to make their athletes train and build stamina and strength and do all the heavy lifting stuff that we don't like to do in practice. But it's because they see the potential in their athletes.
If I didn't want to if I didn't care about my students, I wouldn't put them through all that. Right. Poor coaches like oh, let's take the day off. We don't want to do that. But at the same time, you can't ignore what she was talking about earlier. The the part of it where you don't just burn out, you don't run them so hard.
But we work really hard when we practice. But we have to refill. We have to renew what we do so we can go out and do it again tomorrow. So I always talk in athletics stuff I have, but it helps me, you know, it helps describe what we do there.
Keegan Stewart : I said as Jadyn reflected on some of her favorite lessons or classroom times throughout her time here, do you do any pop in your mind, Josh, of some of your favorite as a faculty member?
Dr. Josh Wheeler : Oh, man, I got all sorts of stuff I do love. One of the cool things that I like, the perspectives that I get to see is I teach our university seminar when they come in as incoming freshmen. Yeah. And then I teach our foundations course, which is like our intro course. I can't meet up with a middle of the way through their time here in educational psychology, but then I catch everybody at the very end and methods and clinical teaching.
So for a lot of folks, I see them from when they first started to four years later when they're here at the very end and they get to see the growth that happens. And to be part of that growth throughout the time is a really cool thing. I tell everybody always, one of the things that surprised me about this job coming is how much growing of people you do, right?
But that's one of the most fulfilling things that we see is when those those incoming freshmen turn into later those professional teachers that then go out and have their own classroom and are pouring into those kids and growing their own students, you know, that is really fulfilling to see. So there's so many memories in that whole the MPTs are always hilarious to watch and they are great growing experiences.
One of the things and Jadyn said is we you know, we are not blunt, but we're very you know, we're going to tell you what you're what you're doing well, but also what you need to work on. And so that's how you grow people, right? And so when you see them lean into that and actually take that coaching and to do that growth and it's all of them.
I mean, they're the ones that decide to do that work. That is a really cool thing to be a part of. So that's probably the best part. See, the growth.
Keegan Stewart : Jadyn we've talked a lot about academics specifically of course, the School of Ed, but LCU as we all know, offers a lot. So I wanted to ask you to share with us some of your experiences outside of the classroom and what benefits and blessings you've found at LCU, things you've been involved in.
Jadyn Martinez : Yeah. So my first two years I was much more involved because my third year here I had a baby and got married, right? So but in the first two years I was very involved. I wish I was more involved with more things now, but that first year I did all the fun rush stuff where you get to go and meet all the clubs and you have a couple hours to come up with costumes for whatever theme the club has picked for the day.
And that was so fun and how I made some of the friends that I'm still friends with to this day that are my best friends. From that, I went into Kappa Phi Kappa and had so much fun and we did Follies and I'm very biased, but I think the Best Follies show ever topgun the Follies was so good and it was so fun.
Dr. Josh Wheeler : Yeah, it was a good one.
Jadyn Martinez : I think the opening pilot came out and drove the plan, right? It was I had to practice my scream, but it's just so fun. And you spend hours every night with these girls and at the end you're kind of like, that was a lot of time with them. But then once you're done, you're like, Oh, I miss seeing them every night for 3 hours and dancing and singing weird songs.
So it's very fun. And then after that, oh, COVID, so didn't do anything that year, but sophomore year I was chaplain for Kappa and that was really special to get to do rush from that side and lead the divas with my other chaplain, who was just awesome. She was fantastic. I was a part of Alliance in my sophomore year and that was fun.
Getting to do a lot of the Chap Days was mainly what we were doing and helping freshmen on their first days. I was an orientation leader my sophomore year with Kincaid Ramsey, and that was very fun getting to meet those kid, the freshmen. They're not even kids because they were my age, but to get to meet the freshmen and just do fun things with them for the first few days that they were here, I probably had more fun than they did.
It was a blast. It was so fun. We took them to the Stars and Stripes driving for the fun, Lubbock night out and saw the greatest showman. It was great to me. Yeah, it was so fun for all of us. And then what else? Oh, I did National Society of Leadership and Success and that was fun. Very interesting.
You get to hear these speaker broadcasts from all these leaders in our nation, like through Zoom kind of thing. And so I submitted a question hoping Jack Black would answer it, and he did.
Dr. Josh Wheeler : So what?
Jadyn Martinez : I got to ask Jack Black a question, and he answered it for the whole nation to see. And it was very fun. I don't think he really answered my question. It was a little advanced, but he was.
Keegan Stewart : Over. It was over. Jack said.
Jadyn Martinez : Yeah, a little.
Keegan Stewart : Yeah.
Jadyn Martinez : And not trying to use his intelligence or anything.
Dr. Josh Wheeler : You hear that, Jack?
Jadyn Martinez : I bet he listens to this.
Keegan Stewart : Yeah, he'll hear that. But that's so you know, it was that is awesome.
Jadyn Martinez : And so like I had some of my friends in New Mexico who are in the same like program Snapchat me and be like is that you asking Jack Black you know nice yeah no big deal even though he didn't answer but so that was a cool thing to get to be a part of and just like really practical leadership tips and how to do that in different ways.
Did a bunch of like the personality testing. So that's a cool thing to be a part of too. But I think that wow honors college I mean, did that that's also very interesting because you get to take all these classes that are outside of your specialization. And so I've taken some science classes, which is not my thing, but it's awesome.
I had Dr. Rogers, who's great, great chemistry and I was not great at chemistry, but she made it awesome. And so history of science with Dr. Farr was super fun. That's my thing anyways. But it was just an honors class that I got to take because I was in honors and it's very, very fun. So lots of awesome stuff.
At LCU Very cool to be a part of and take advantage of all of it when you can.
Keegan Stewart : Well, you certainly did and like hearing about your experience. So Josh and Jadyn, one last one, last opportunity. You know what? What's your message to prospective students? What's your message to people who are thinking about this program or want to go into teaching? Tell them one more time why they should come be a part of the School of Education.
at LCU.
Dr. Josh Wheeler : I’ll let Jadyn, I'm going to go first. Yeah. All right, I'll let you go first.
Jadyn Martinez : Yeah, you should definitely consider coming to the School of Education at LCU. It is just so special, and we have talked about it over and over again, but the people that are there are there to set you up for success and set you up for a life of fulfillment and a life of calling. And I just truly believe this is one of the most special missions that God can give to people.
If you're looking for a way to help kids in a real, meaningful, impactful way, this is a way that you get to be with them all the time and see them the way that the Lord sees them and pray for them with how you should and help them. And so I think this program is very special because they feed into that, into your mission and to your why, and they remind you of that constantly and make sure that you have those chances to not burn out and set you up for the ways to not burn out.
And so I just think that it's very special and there's nowhere else like it. So if you're going to do education, this is definitely the place to be.
Dr. Josh Wheeler : Awesome. I'll pay you later there. Well, I mean, you can't say it much better. And she just said, if you're talking to somebody that it's thinking about this, maybe interested in it, obviously you need to have a heart for people and for kids specifically. But we want to help you if you feel that calling to go out and serve kids families in schools.
We feel like this is a place where we're going to help you, you know, hone that, grow that passion. We're going to help set you up for success, not just in the technical pieces of what you do, but kind of what Jadyn just mentioned, helping you see how what you're doing is a calling. Right. And how this is our mission and how you can go out and serve this way to grow that love for people and what we do and and understand the impact that you have.
Obviously, it's important to know how you do that. Right. And I tell teachers this all the time, you, Jadyn what's the most important thing I say in education always? What's the most.
Jadyn Martinez : Important relationship.
Dr. Josh Wheeler : Relationships? The most important thing. However, if you're not also helping your students grow and find academic success at the same time, you're not you're not doing your job. And that's also not caring for them, right? When you care about people, you want to see them be the best version of themselves that they can be. And so we need to know how to do that, all the technical pieces.
But to frame it and to view it through, it's because we care so much about these students and we love them so much. This is why we push them so hard and why we hold them to such a high standard and why why we ourselves work so hard to try and figure out how we can help them catch academic success.
And to do that, when you frame it and we have the right perspective on what we're doing, that helps us live out our calling. And so we think this is a place where we can help you do that. We want to help you find the success. Whatever dreams you have for yourself, we're going to help you reach those goals.
And so we're going to pour into you. We're going to love you. We are going to hold you to high expectations here also, though. But then we're going to celebrate with you when you meet those and when you go out and you have success. So that's the quick elevator pitch that I give people. We're going to help you find success any way we can.
Keegan Stewart : Guys, this has been so fun. Thank you both for being here today.
Dr. Josh Wheeler : Yeah, man, thanks for having us. This has been fun. We appreciate it. I had.
Jadyn Martinez : A blast.
Keegan Stewart : Absolutely. Thank you much for listening. This is the LCU podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, go ahead and send it to someone else. So you think we'll also enjoy it. Leave us a rating review like and subscribe. Thank you so much for listening. Have a great day. God bless. Thanks for listening to LCU's podcast. For more content like this, go to LCU.edu.