Career Exploration
All about bridge years, community engagement, internships, shadowing, and tutoring/teaching courses.
Bridge Years
Why bridge years instead of a gap year?
Gap years do not necessarily lead to something else or have meaningful direction. Gaps generally go downward and can end up being “time off” without purpose.
Bridge years provide a forward, meaningful direction towards your goals and dreams. They help connect what you are currently doing with what you want to do in the future and what you want to experience before the next big transition in your life.
Bridge years can:
- help you gain knowledge that builds upon your existing skills
- clarify how your skills transfer to a new field
- Provide a way to decide if what you think you want to do is true
- Be a way to grow personally and professionally
Bridge years can be many things – interning, volunteering, full-time jobs, graduate school, etc., but whatever you do, bridging has intention and direction.
Bridge Opportunities
The list of bridge opportunities below is not exhaustive and is for informational purposes only. A listing does not constitute an endorsement by Georgia Tech or Pre-Teaching Advising.
Links to Bridge Opportunities
- AIESEC
- AmeriCorps
- Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF)
- Boston MATCH Corps
- Camp Twin Lakes
- Casa de Esperanza/Hands of Hope
- City Year
- Council on International Educational Exchange
- Dudley Promise Corps
- The English Camp Company
- Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Award
- Franklin Road Academy Faculty Fellows Program
- Global Vision People
- Global Vision Planet
- Go Overseas
- Greenheart Travel
- Ibaraki Christian University (Hitachi, Japan) TESOL internship
- Integrated Social Programs in Indian Child Education
- Japan Exchange and Teaching Program USA
- LanguageCorps
- North American Language and Cultural Assistance Program (Spain)
- Peace Corps
- Project Horseshoe Farm Fellowship
- Student Conversation Association Community Volunteer Ambassadors
- Teaching Abroad (general resource of options)
- Teach for America (TFA)
- Teachola
- WorldTeach
- Wesleyan School Faculty Fellows Program
Community Engagement Opportunities
Explore teaching and working with K-12 students through the many opportunities to volunteer, tutor, mentor, coach, and teach.
The list of opportunities below is not exhaustive and is for informational purposes only. A listing does not constitute an endorsement by Georgia Tech or Pre-Teaching Advising.
Georgia Tech Opportunities
- BME HealthReach K-12 Outreach Program
- CEISMC – GoSTEM
- CEISMC – GoSTEAM Innovators in Residence
- CEISMC – Horizons
- CEISMC – K.I.D.S. Club
- Common Good Equity in Education
- FASET Leaders Georgia Tech Engage (database of opportunities)
- GT 1000 and GT 2000 Team Leaders
- Jumpstart
- Robert C. Williams Papermaking Museum (contact education coordinator)
- Students for Education Coalition
- Tech Wreck Summer Camps
- Women in Engineering K-12 Outreach (camps, visiting schools, supporting high schoolers)
- Wreck Camp & FASET orientation leaders
- Use Engage@GeorgiaTech to search all organizations on GT’s campus.
Summer Camps – Be a Counselor!
- Aurora Day Camp
- American Camp Association Find a Camp
- Breakthrough Atlanta Teaching Fellows Program
- Calvin Center Retreat and Conference Center
- Clarkston Community Center STEAM Summer Camp
- Concordia Language Villages Immersion Camps
- Engineering for Kids (Click on the “About” tab for job openings.)
- FOCUS + fragile Kids
- Girls Who Code
- Short-term international camps (go to “programs for current college students”)
- Space Camp: U.S. Space and Rocket Center
- STEM-focused summer camps (general list)
- YMCA Camps
In Metro Atlanta
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Database to search for more opportunities: VolunteerMatch.org
Internships
Internships help you explore teaching through an engaged, authentic experience. All Pre-Teaching internships are officially recognized through the Georgia Tech Career Center.
If you register your internship through the Georgia Tech Career Center, the benefit include:
- Internship hours eligible for audit credit hours (no tuition or fees)
- Internship hours serve as academic placeholders towards full-time status (for example, 6 audit credit hours + 6 academic hours = full time)
- transcript designation of internship
Internships may be paid or unpaid. Talk to a pre-teaching advisor or a Career Center advisor before accepting an unpaid internship.
Internship opportunities
Deadline to apply for Spring 2024: October 20
Shadow a Teacher
If you are a GT student or alum, we can arrange for you to spend the day shadowing a teacher to see what a day in the life of a teacher really looks like.
This program is only for Georgia Tech students and alumni.
To arrange a shadow day: email Susan Belmonte, Pre-Teaching Advisor, sbelmonte@gatech.edu, 404.385.3494
Shadow days can take 2 –3 weeks to arrange so please allow for ample time between your request and the day you hope to visit.
Participating schools change but are usually in a public school in Marietta City Schools, Atlanta Public Schools, or Gwinnett County Schools. Some private/independent schools may also participate in the program.
Tutoring, Teaching, & Courses
Being a Teaching Assistant (TA) or a tutor on campus are great ways to explore teaching.
- Tutoring and Academic Support (tutors, learning assistants, PLUS leaders)
- Undergraduate Teaching Assistantships: Biology
- Undergraduate Teaching Assistantships: Mathematics
Taking a course can help you learn more about the field of education as an academic discipline. Some course options include:
- PSYC 2130: Introducation to Educational Psychology
- PUBP 3230: STEM Education Policy
- Check OSCAR for term course offerings.
