School of Education at UW-Platteville Hosts 4th Annual Rural Education Conference and Job Fair

As rural areas struggle to draw young people to their communities or keep young people from leaving rural hometowns, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville is making it a priority to connect students with rural job opportunities. To further these efforts, the School of Education hosted its 4th Annual Rural Education Conference and Job Fair on April 15th in Velzy Commons at Ullsvik Hall.

"The goal of the Rural Education Conference and Job Fair is to provide students with a professional conference right here at UW-Platteville. Each year, we highlight the benefits of rural living and teaching. We connect students with local school districts who have jobs in education," said event coordinator Lindsay Hollingsworth, Associate Director of the School of Education and professor at UW-Platteville.

This year's conference featured keynote speakers from the Crase family of Platteville. "It Takes a Village…and Sometimes a Whole Family: The Crase Family on Teaching with Heart," included Platteville High School Principal Jacob Crase and his wife, McKenzie Crase, who teaches third grade at Westview Elementary School; his sisters, Emily Zachary, an English teacher at Platteville High School, Carrie Schmidt, an art teacher at Deerfield; and their father, Jeff Crase, a Crystal Apple Award winner who taught in Belmont for over 40 years and now substitute teaches for the Platteville School District.

In addition to the keynote speaker and job fair, the conference included a poster session. Students in the School of Education had the opportunity to present posters highlighting innovative projects, research, and teaching practices. "The poster session was awesome," said assistant professor Doug Adams, another coordinator of the event. "We had 17 posters ranging in topics from inquiry-based learning to how limited internet shapes rural education. It's a great opportunity for our students to showcase what they've learned."

Save the date of April 14, 2027 for the 5th Annual Rural Education Conference and Job Fair!