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From the moment Houston native Morgan Roussel came to campus for a tour, she knew the ŷ������Ƭ was the best college for her.

“Everyone was very accepting. They wanted to know about me and asked me specific questions about what I was looking for in a college,” she said. “My tour guide was really friendly – and none of the other tours even asked me my name.”

“They felt like they weren’t looking for a specific type of student, which is what a lot of the Texas universities were looking for. They were just looking for people who wanted to be around people.”

For Morgan, part of UL Lafayette’s appeal was the College of Education’s impressive reputation. She decided to major in middle school education with a concentration in mathematics.

“I always wanted to work with kids. Middle school is such a hard time, and they need qualified teachers,” she said.

Because of the connections she’s made in her college and on campus, Morgan’s confident about her future.

“I feel like after I graduate I can almost guarantee having a job in the education field just because of the connections that all of the professors have, and they’re teaching us so well,” Morgan said.

A big part of life for all education majors at UL Lafayette is the hands-on experience they get in local schools.

“We have to go into classrooms every semester to observe before we start student teaching, and you’re observing a classroom before you start student teaching in the same classroom,” Morgan explained. “It very much prepares us for how it’s going to be, as well as teaching us strategies to use on the job.”

Morgan is looking forward to her Teacher Residency, which is a year-long student teaching experience.

“I’m really looking forward to creating a relationship with the teacher who has been teaching for a while, and seeing how they handle a classroom versus how I would like to,” she said. “I think student teaching is such a cool opportunity – it's like putting a foot in the door of teaching so I won’t be completely new to it when I start the job. It’ll give me some really good experience beforehand.”

On campus, Morgan’s classes are teaching her important skills she’ll need to lead a classroom.

“It comes down to: We should be knowledgeable in our subject, but we also need to be compassionate and we need to be flexible,” she said, “and we also should be knowledgeable about all types of children so we can properly manage a classroom. It has really just taught me flexibility and problem-solving skills.”