Three from FCPS among GoTeachKY Ambassadors

The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) recently announced the 2024-25 ambassadors for the GoTeachKY initiative, which aims to ensure that all students across the Commonwealth have equitable access to effective educators. Among this year’s 21 ambassadors are:

• Natalie Canizal, a learning and behavior disorders teacher at Frederick Douglass High School
• Sadie Rice, an English language development teacher at Bryan Station Middle School
• Alicia Thomas, an eighth-grade science teacher at Lexington Traditional Magnet School

GoTeachKY seeks to recruit the next generation of teachers in Kentucky, helping remedy the critical teacher shortage that affects every state. Ambassadors have three main goals:

• Communicate with and inspire students in high school and college to consider teaching as a career
• Communicate with potential and current teachers to promote the rewards and opportunities associated with a career in teaching
• Support and promote the central focus areas, programs, and organizations of GoTeachKY, such as Educators Rising Kentucky and the Teaching and Learning career pathway

Each ambassador has a unique story that brought them into the teaching profession, and their stories will be featured on social media as examples of the different pathways available to future educators. Ambassadors also will represent GoTeachKY at career fairs and other speaking engagements.

Applicants must hold or have held a teaching position in a Kentucky public school and have at least four years of experience as a teacher, principal, or other certified school staff member.