The Rural Scoop

Join Melissa and Ty as they talk with Jeremy Cabribas Gallardo, a top 10 finalist for the Arizona Rural School Association's Teacher of the Year. Jeremy teaches in Aguila, Arizona and has been in education for 18 years. She shares about her journey from growing up and teaching in Manila, Philippines to now teaching in a rural Arizona community. Jeremy talks about the strong sense of community she...

Hosts Dr. Melissa Sadorf and Ty White interview Harlee Harvey, the 2022 Alaska Teacher of the Year. Harlee teaches 1st grade in the remote village of Point Hope, Alaska. Harlee discusses her journey into rural Alaskan education, including the culture shock and steep learning curve. She shares strategies like stepping back to let students teach about their own culture, partnering with the community...

Join Rural Scoop hosts Ty and Melissa as they speak with Chad Warnick, the 2023 Utah Teacher of the Year. Chad teaches agricultural education at Delta High School, the same rural high school he attended. He shares how agricultural education and FFA helped build his confidence as a teen. Chad discusses the advantages and challenges of teaching in a rural community, including strong community and pa...

Join Melissa as she talks to Dr. Kellie Burns. Kellie is the District Executive Officer of the Yavapai Accommodation School District, an alternative school nestled in the heart of Prescott, Arizona. She recently earned her Doctorate with Northern Arizona University after a successful defense in researching disconnected youth in rural communities. Dr. Burns serves on five professional boards which...

Join Melissa and Ty as they talk with Nanette Hanson, proud Upper and a rural Teacher of the Year! Nanette Has 20 plus years of varied teaching experiences in several teaching positions from alternative high school through first grade. Each position has offered her ample opportunities to become a better educator, leader and mentor. For the last 18 years, Nanette has taught first-grade at Lemmer El...

The Arizona Rural Schools Association has responded to membership requests for support in their local advocacy efforts and has brought in Dianne Smith as a policy expert. Melissa and Sean Rickert, ARSA President Elect, talk to Dianne about her background, her thoughts about the last legislative session and what the upcoming one might look like, and gives some great tips for rural leaders that want...

Join host Melissa Sadorf and her co-host Ty White as they talk to Amber Nichols of rural West Virginia! Amber is a kindergarten teacher at Eastwood Elementary School in Morgantown, West Virginia. With a Master of Arts in education from West Virginia University and a Bachelor of Science in communications from Shepherd College, she began teaching in 2001. Her teaching experience includes both kinder...

Join Melissa and Ty as they talk about rural education in Idaho with Dr. Karen Lauritzen! She was recently named the 2023 Idaho Teacher of the Year. Her career spans 21 years in grades K -4, and the last 12 have been spent in Post Falls, a rural school community. Karen completed her doctorate this past year and her dissertation focus was on educator advocacy for the education profession. What a gr...

Join the Rural Scoop to talk about teaching in remote rural Cooke City with Montana Teacher of the Year Lara Belice! Melissa and Ty explore Lara’s success as the sole licensed educator at Cooke City School—an isolated, K-8 rural one-room school. Lara has taught at Cooke City for the past five years. This year's student enrollment initially spanned 7-grade levels—Kindergarten through 8th grade. Pri...

Join Melissa and her co-host Ty for a special guest on the Scoop! Julia Cunningham is the Director of Rural Engagement in the Office of Communications and Outreach at the U.S. Department of Education. In this role, she is responsible for proactive, thoughtful engagement with rural schools and communities across the country as well as building out a strategy for the Department’s rural initiatives a...

Join Dr. Sadorf as she discusses an issue on rural leaders' minds - housing for school staff in rural communities. She is joined by Superintendent John School of Chino Valley USD in Arizona. Superintendent Scholl outlines the process his district has gone through in the last couple of years to plan for and build ten "tiny homes" for teachers on one of the school campuses. From planning to the RFP...

Join Dr. Sadorf and her Co-Host, Ty White, as they talk to Royd Lee, a Navajo language rural teacher from Tuba City City, Arizona located on the Navajo Nation.  Royd is a 2021-22 Ambassador of Excellence for the Arizona Educational Foundation. He is very active with advocacy work for Impact Aid funding for Tribal and rural schools throughout the state. Get to know about this outstanding educator w...

Join Dr. Sadorf and her Co-Host, Ty White, as they talk to Christina Musselman, a First Grade rural teacher from Lake Havasu City, Arizona.  Christina was the Mohave County Rural Teacher of the Year Finalist in is the 2021-22 for ARSA. She is a National Board Certified Teacher and coach, an adjunct professor for ASU, and serves as a Borderlands Rural Teacher Caucus member, advocating for rural sch...

Join Dr. Sadorf and her Co-host, Ty White as they have a chance to talk to Elizabeth Colton. Liz is the 2022-23 ARSA Teacher of the Year and teaches Science at Crane Middle School in Yuma, Arizona. She is a STEM teacher, FIRST Coach, Global Innovation Ambassador and a Patent Holder of Aqua Box! Get to know about this outstanding educator who is doing some amazing things for the students in her rur...

The Scoop is excited to kick off the new season with award winning teacher, Ty White! Ty is the 2021-22 ARSA Teacher of the Year, and this past year was recognized for two major awards. He is the 2022-23 National Rural Education Association's Teacher of the Year, and is also the Arizona Teacher of the Year for the Arizona Educational Foundation. Ty is a chemistry teacher at Willcox High School in...

The Rural Scoop has the opportunity to speak to two staunch supporters of rural education about their organizations and the work they are doing, including their upcoming participation at the Rural College Access and Success Summit! Sara White is the Director of Programs for Partners for Education. She has worked the last 25 years in the field of public education as a teacher, counselor and federal...

The Cultivating Rural Education series of the Rural Scoop features the authors of the book by the same name! Join me and my guest co-host Julie Duffield of the Region 15 Comprehensive Center for West Ed in this special collaboration as we talk to author Dr. Sheneka Williams about Strong Rural Students. We dive into the importance of community partnerships in rural schools, look at how land grant u...

The Cultivating Rural Education series of the Rural Scoop features the authors of the book by the same name! Join me and my guest co-host Julie Duffield of the Region 15 Comprehensive Center for West Ed in this special collaboration as we talk to author Dr. Karen Eppley. We take a look at challenges that rural communities face in recruiting and retaining rural teachers, the importance of ensuring...

The Cultivating Rural Education series of the Rural Scoop features the authors of the book by the same name! Join me and my guest co-host Julie Duffield of the Region 15 Comprehensive Center for West Ed in this special collaboration as we talk to author Dr. Jennifer Seelig. We take a look at what rurality means, as well as how asset mapping can be a powerful tool for rural leaders and initiatives....

The Cultivating Rural Education series of the Rural Scoop features the authors of the book by the same name! Join me and my guest co-host Julie Duffield of the Region 15 Comprehensive Center for West Ed in this special collaboration as we talk to author Erin McHenry-Sorber. We dive into the importance of community partnerships in rural schools, look at the way rural leaders can tap into community...

The Cultivating Rural Education series of the Rural Scoop features the editors and authors of the book by the same name! Join me and my guest co-host Julie Duffield of the Region 15 Comprehensive Center for West Ed in this special collaboration as we talk to editors Sam Redding and Caitlin Howley. We dive into how the book came to be, look at what rural is and isn't, and explore at how states and...

 We continue to investigate the STEM opportunities that are out there for rural students with my guest, Manny Leon, the Assistant Director of the Office of Early Academic Outreach at the University of Arizona! Join is as we talk about the MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) program, and how the programming can engage your rural students and staff. Now with the opportunity to take...

Got STEM? In this edition of the Scoop, we explore all things STEM for rural schools with Cori Araza of Grand Canyon University! She walks me and my first co-host, Jaime Festa-Daigle, through what STEM is, what opportunities exist for our rural teachers and students, and discusses ways for rural leaders to support STEM in their classrooms. As promised in the interview, the show notes can be found...

 Join the Scoop as we listen to a few "Stories From the Rural Schoolhouse" - another episode in our special series this season! Our guest is Amy Barker, Assistant Superintendent of the Mountain Valley Education Consortium located in Shasta County, California! Amy talks about different distance learning models used by her districts in the last year, how parent engagement changed, and ways the schoo...

 Join the Scoop as we listen to a few "Stories From the Rural Schoolhouse" - another episode in our special series this season! Our guest is Dr. Helio Brasil, Superintendent of the Keyes Union School District located in Keyes, California! Helio talks about the unique challenges his district faced in the last year with social emotional learning, teacher resiliency, new ways of doing things that the...