September 2023 Newsletter

Welcome back wildcats!

What is FENMU?

To those of you who don't know, my name is Claire and I am the president of the Future Educators of NMU. I wanted to officially welcome all of you to this space created by some amazing soon-to-be and current educators! If you are only considering education or are not an education major, have no fear! You are still absolutely welcome here.

The purpose of this club is to provide a space for learning, growth, socialization, and opportunity among soon-to-be educators. We will be hosting a variety of events throughout the year, and I look forward to seeing both new and familiar faces.

We have an awesome team, with El Parker (they/she) as our vice president and Jaime Vanenkevort (she/they) as our advisor. A huge thank you to both of them for the amazing work they do. As I mentioned, I am Claire Branding (she/her) and FENMU's current president.

Events!

Our first event is, of course, an introductory meeting! El and I are thrilled to meet all of you lovely new people. However, we want to make sure that we plan most meetings for whenever all of you are available! So, please fill out this survey on your availability and what you want to see from FENMU. We will send a follow-up email shortly for the official date of our first meeting.

The rest of our events are in the works. As always, please send along any ideas you have as well as any events you would like to see.

News

El, Jaime, and I started this club almost a year ago and I can hardly believe it! With the first year under our belt, we are looking to expand our team! If you are interested in becoming a part of our board, please reach out to us at this email (cbrandin@nmu.edu) with your name, contact info, and the position you are interested in. We have openings for a secretary, treasurer, social media/website coordinator, and student outreach coordinator.

Opportunities

Big Brothers Big sisters of the Central Upper Peninsula is a great way to get experience with kiddos and they are currently looking for volunteers! The program is a mentorship opportunity in which you meet with a student once per week for the academic year. They have availability for the following dates and times:

Bothwell Middle School (Boys & Girls), Tuesdays from 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Lake Superior Village Youth Center (Girls), Tuesdays from 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm

Lake Superior Village Youth Center (Boys), Wednesdays from 5:30 pm -6:30 pm

Another exciting opportunity this week is with Carrie Fiocchi! She is organizing a "UP-wide queer youth action committee!" She would need volunteers for only 2-3 hours per week. She wrote a lovely letter going in-depth about what she is looking for. I have attached it below, so please give it a read!

Thank you all for joining our email list. We hope to see you soon and look forward to FENMU year two!

Claire Branding

FENMU President

(She/Her)