Karryne spent three years working in Rider’s Student Success Center. What she learned there about the rigor and relevance of a curriculum and making instruction personal for students had a tremendous impact on her teaching. She even memorized the Center’s motto, which guides her teaching today: Tell me, and I’ll forget. Show me, and I’ll remember. Involve me, and I’ll understand. “Bringing that relevance into the classroom is something I use everyday,” she says.
Why Karryne chose Rider
Karryne’s high school accounting teacher instructed students to look at local colleges with accounting programs. When she visited Rider, she instantly fell in love. “I knew I belonged there even though I’d never been to Rider before,” she says. She visited other campuses, but none compared to what she found at Rider.
Ironically, It wasn’t until Karryne was a Rider student that she became fully aware of the University’s strong education program. She enrolled as an education major, choosing history as her dual major during her sophomore year. “Rider was a perfect fit,” she says.
My experiences both inside and outside the classroom were essential to my success. I use everything Rider taught me every day.
Social Studies Teacher, Manalapan-Englishtown Middle School
Rider's impact on Karryne's career
As a freshman, Karryne took a World History class with Dr. Nikki Shepherdson, who was also her mentor. Recognizing her talents, the professor encouraged her to apply for a position at Rider’s Student Success Center. Karryne spent the next three years working as a supplemental instruction leader/mentor and tutoring students in American Politics and World History. She later became a lead peer tutor, supervising and training new leaders and tutors.
“It was such an amazing opportunity. Working as a supplemental instruction leader/mentor and tutor really helped me finesse my skills. If I didn’t learn it in my education classes, I learned it at the Student Success Center,” says Karryne.
Continued success
Karryne credits her field placements at three middle schools and a high school — beginning in her sophomore year — with providing key hands-on learning and experience. “Being a student and being a teacher are two different things,” she says. “Getting into the classroom early on showed me that I was in the right field. It also helped me to define my role as a teacher.”
During her senior year, she landed a prestigious paid internship at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City. Her duties included educating middle and high school students about Jewish heritage and the effects of the Holocaust and conducting tours at the museum. “It had a tremendous impact on my teaching. It taught me to see history through a social and cultural lens,” Karryne says.
After graduation, Karryne worked as a long-term substitute at Holmdel High School and Readington Middle School. Five months later, she was hired full-time at Manalapan-Englishtown Middle School. “My hard work paid off!” she says. Karryne now serves as a building representative for the local teacher’s union and the NJEA Early Careers Network. She also attends professional conferences several times a year. She is engaged to fellow Rider graduate Brian Kelley ’15.