Brooke Hamlett works with students at the Teacher Prep Academy on Thursday, June 5, 2025 in Indianapolis. The program aims to help high schoolers explore possible careers in teaching through dual-credit courses, and by living on the University of Indianapolis campus for a week. (Samantha Camire / Chalkbeat)
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For Brooklynne Ford, becoming a teacher is all about being a positive force in a kid’s life and “helping people.”
The rising senior at Franklin Central High School in Indianapolis is getting started on her teaching education early through Teacher Prep Academy, a University of Indianapolis program now in its third year. At the academy, 21 high school students take dual-credit courses and live and learn on the university’s campus for one week. The program is funded by a roughly $700,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Education.
Those who run Teacher Prep Academy hope that in a small way it can help address the ongoing teacher shortage — which is also a challenge nationwide — by preparing high school students to enter the profession. However, they’re uncertain about the academy’s future, since the state grant that funds the program has run out.
“The point of having this camp is to get high schoolers who are interested in going into education and give them a little taste of what education is like as a career,” said program coordinator Leah Trost.
Of the 3,517 open positions on the Indiana Educator Job Board as of June 5, 1,905 of them were teaching positions. This is a somewhat lower number than last summer, when there were about 2,200 teaching positions available in June.
An October Department of Education presentation attributed the Indiana teacher shortage in part to fewer aspiring teachers entering and finishing education programs.
The academy is free to students and includes on-site classes as well as off-site trips to local schools and museums. While the program is still young, students say the academy has encouraged them to continue to explore teaching as a career path.
Ford said she would recommend the program to others and said she is more likely to continue pursuing an education career because she took part in the academy.
“All of your mentors help you make sure that you have not only the knowledge you need, but like the love and support that you need with it,” she said.
Students get hands-on teaching experience
A highlight of the academy for both students and instructors was a recent visit to Indian Creek Elementary School, where students got the chance to work with elementary schoolers and speak with the principal.
Isaiah Jimenez, a rising junior at Franklin Central High School, valued this hands-on experience. He especially appreciates the way the academy has encouraged him to have empathy for his future students.
“This program helps you be able to be more emotionally intelligent, helps you be more considerate, and it helps you be able to teach others,” he said.
Back on the University of Indianapolis campus on a recent Thursday, the state’s future teachers gathered in a classroom for their dual-credit courses.
After splitting up into groups, students worked on their course-ending project, did independent work, and reviewed the concept of high-leverage practice — teaching strategies that improve student comprehension — with instructor Brooke Hamlett.
Hamlett has focused much of the week on showing students how to think like a teacher. She modeled the different strategies she uses to engage students.
She was particularly proud when a student in the Teacher Prep Academy was able to break down why Hamlett chose to re-teach a concept after noticing the student’s minds wandering the previous day.
“I’m so impressed by this batch of kids,” Hamlett said.
The program emphasizes community alongside learning, with mentors leading games and activities to help the student get to know each other.
The students also make connections with teachers, who are able to offer more perspective on day-to-day life in their jobs. One student is already planning to shadow Hamlett next year to get a better sense of what her job in Beech Grove City Schools, where she teaches, is all about.
Teacher prep program’s future funding is in doubt
Teacher Prep Academy is funded through the Attract, Prepare, Retain grant, a state-level grant that supports local initiatives to recruit and retain teachers. As a partner institution, the University of Indianapolis received over $700,000 in 2022 to operate the academy and several other initiatives.
The Indiana Department of Education funded the grant from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, part of the federal government’s COVID aid. But that federal relief has expired, and there’s no other funding source for Attract, Prepare, Retain. That’s left those who oversee the program uncertain about its future funding and whether it will have to shut down.
Program coordinator Leah Trost said they will be exploring other funding options, but at this time, she does not know how they will afford the program next year.
“If we don’t have this camp, we’re going to miss out on possibly getting 30, 35 students who maybe thought about education but weren’t sold on it,” she said.
Not only does the academy provide concrete knowledge and skills to students, it also connects them to like-minded people who are interested in education.
“They would lose such a super-cool opportunity to make connections here at the university, connections in public schools around the city, connections with one another, just this opportunity to meet people that you never would have had the chance to meet and collaborate with,” said Hamlett.
Samantha Camire is a summer reporting intern covering education in the Indianapolis area. Contact Samantha at scamire@chalkbeat.org. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
