Western Carolina University

The Rural-Urban Exchange (RUE) is a collaborative undertaking involving the College of Education and Allied Professions (CEAP) at WCU and our partner, the School of Education at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University (NCA&T), a historically Black university (HBCU) in Greensboro. Every year six students from WCU and six from NCA&T are selected to spend a week at their partner university.

The RUE is available to all teacher-education students at WCU who are juniors or seniors and in the semester prior to full-time student teaching/interning

During their week at NCA&T, students from WCU live on campus or in a local hotel and spend time in local public schools and in activities on campus and in the community designed to help them work with diverse P-12 students in an urban setting. During an alternate week students from NCA&T live on WCU’s campus and visit schools in Jackson County and Cherokee to gain exposure to P-12 schools in a rural setting.

The Rural-Urban Exchange Program provides teacher-education students with an experience in working with diverse higher education and public school faculty, diverse candidates, and diverse P-12 students. Students from both WCU and NCAT&T have the opportunity to interact and work with teacher-education students from varying ethnic, racial, language and socioeconomic groups in professional education activities on campus and in public schools.

Rural Urban Exchange 2012

Students who participated from NCA&T:

• Nicole Beverly - Special Education/Elementary Education
• Kristina Clarida – Elementary Education
• Alisha Fairfax – Elementary Education
• Isiah Guinyard – Elementary Education
• Brittany McLean – Child Development and Family Studies
• Jennifer Moser – Special Education/Elementary Education
• Gabrielle Tyler – Elementary Education

Students who participated from WCU:

• Cassondra “Cassie” Green – Middle Grades Math and Science
• Rebecca Kohler – Special Education
• Melani Lippard – Secondary Social Science Education
• Savannah Pegram – Special Education
• Rebecah Williams – Secondary English Education

2012 Panel Discussion