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A relational program providing young men of color an opportunity to mentor the next generation
Call Me MiSTER is a program that recognizes the value and importance of a highly qualified, diverse teacher workforce. Unfortunately, there exists an imbalance of diversity among teachers in the state of South Carolina, and that is especially true in the state’s lowest-performing schools. In fact, less than 2% of the entire teacher workforce in South Carolina includes African American males.
To address this deficiency, the Call Me MiSTER Initiative exists to increase the availability of African American male educators from diverse backgrounds by offering tuition assistance to undergraduates who are largely selected from under-served, socioeconomically disadvantaged, and educationally at-risk communities. Selected candidates, known as MISTERS, attend Anderson University to complete a program of study for initial teacher certification in Early Childhood Education, Elementary, Middle, and Secondary Education, and Special Education. MISTERS also participate in the program’s Servant Leadership model, which serves as the co-curriculum to the teacher education program. Not only is the program committed to producing educators, but it is also committed to the individual and collective growth of its MISTERS as role models for children and community builders.
Launched in the year 2000 in the state of South Carolina at three Historical Black Colleges & Universities (Morris College, Claflin University, & Benedict College) and Clemson University, Call Me MiSTER (CMM) is a prestigious, competitive, nationwide programming spanning 12 states, boasting over 40 cohorts and nearly 500 certified MiSTERS enriching classrooms, school districts and universities across America.
Program Components
Program participants are recruited in cohorts of at least three to five beginning in their freshman year. Importantly, CMM teacher candidates are expected to participate in a living learning community in residence on campus and to participate fully in the program’s co-curriculum throughout the academic year. This program provides spaces to grapple with each other socially through challenges that are connected to the CMM conceptual framework.
The program offers various opportunities for students to develop and exercise their leadership skills, including through individualized empowerment plans (IEPs), field experiences, lectures, workshops, and seminars.
The program is dedicated to providing valuable, hands-on, professional development opportunities that prepare CMM teacher candidates for the classroom. Through summer internships at schools, community centers, housing projects, and churches located in nearby college campus sites, CMM men observe and obtain early practical teaching skills and experience, allowing them to glean from veteran teachers the methods and attributes of effective teaching. The program invests heavily in each CMM teacher candidate by making concerted efforts to ensure each MiSTER secures a suitable placement in a teaching position upon graduation.
The program is actively engaged in local communities through various partnerships that serve the dual purpose of furthering the learning opportunities of CMM teacher candidates while simultaneously meeting community needs.
MiSTER Vision Statement
I am a dedicated Servant Leader who is perpetuating a sorely needed concept – Servant Leaders as role models in schools. I am devoted to planting seeds of dignity and respect in children and inspiring them to cultivate those seeds producing a crop of unprecedented success. I will teach reading, writing and arithmetic and progress to self-esteem, imagination and determination. Because of my immeasurable promise, not only have I earned your respect, I demand it! A title is only important if ones’ character and integrity dictate its use. When you address me, please verbalize my destiny… please do not call me by my first name… call me in reference to my great vision… call me MISTER!
FAQs
The Call Me MiSTER program at Anderson University is open to Black or African American male applicants who align with the university’s core values and who aim to pursue an undergraduate degree in education with the goal of teaching at the Early Childhood, Elementary, Middle, Secondary, or Special Education levels.
Procedures for admission to the Call Me MiSTER program must be completed in the following order:
- Apply for and be accepted into Anderson University.
- Complete the Call Me Mister online referral application (housed through Clemson University)
- Submit the following items:
- High School diploma and final transcript or General Education Development (GED) certificate.
- Two letters of recommendation
- One (1) from a teacher, guidance counselor, or principal at the high school from which the diploma is earned.
- One (1) from a person of the student’s choice who can express the student’s involvement in the community and/or potential for entering the teaching profession.
- An essay entitled, “Why I Want to Teach,” which will address the student’s motivation for entering the teaching profession and the contributions he hopes to make to the profession and to the community as a teacher.
- An essay entitled, “How do you believe the Call Me MISTER® program will benefit you as a student?”
- A signed statement certifying that the student is from an underserved, underprivileged or economically disadvantaged background or area.
Following the submission of the items above, an interview will be scheduled with the prospective program participants to ascertain their potential for teaching and their motivations for participating in the program, as well as to provide an opportunity for clarification of any information submitted through the application process.
The Call Me MiSTER initiative provides the following:
- Tuition Assistance
- Up to $10k annually after successfully passing the Praxis Core
- Up to $5k annually before successfully passing the Praxis Core
- Leadership Development & Mentoring
- Community Engagement & Afterschool Programs
- Summer Internships & Workforce Development
- Cohort System for Academic and Social Support
- Participation in a Living Learning Community
- On & Off Campus Social and Educational Trips
- Once accepted to AU’s Call Me MiSTER program, MiSTERS must meet all necessary requirements for teacher licensure and graduation
- Maintain a minimum GPA of 2.7 during their first 60 hours of coursework
- Be enrolled for at least 16 hours each semester
- Attend all weekly/bi-weekly meetings, workshops, trainings, conferences, and CMM program events
- Successfully complete any required internships or in-field experiences
- Complete assignments and attend on campus and community events as scheduled by the CMM Program Director
Since CMM’s inception, its graduates have been aggressively sought after by superintendents, principals, and district human resource recruiters. During the tenure of the program, several superintendents have made pledges to hire CMM teachers during their freshman year. This emphasizes how dire the need is for such teachers, and school leaders often jump on the opportunity to attract promising CMM teachers to their school districts. Most CMM teachers have benefited from receiving multiple offers to fill teaching positions in the state at the completion of their senior year for the ensuing fall school year.
With few exceptions, the vast majority of CMM teachers seek and secure teaching positions in high-poverty, academically challenged or Title I school populations struggling against low expectations and a myriad of other social environmental obstacles. Although the CMM teacher’s personal and academic experience is often very similar to the school environment in which they find themselves, it is important for the CMM program to know enough about the school leadership and environment to assess whether it is a good fit for the CMM teacher.
The CMM program cohort model is designed to supplement the CMM teacher’s content knowledge and pedagogy with the effective dispositional development necessary to create an environment where children can succeed, and parents are a welcome part of that process. During their matriculation in the CMM program, CMM teachers are challenged to learn how to overcome their own regressive, often self-destructive behaviors and attitudes toward authority figures and others. The consistent feedback from cohort members, program coordinators, and self assessment protocols, are supports and tools that allow CMM teachers to confront these challenges and increase the likelihood of success during the first couple years of teaching.
The retention of CMM teachers over time has resulted in graduates pursuing master’s or doctoral degrees to assume educational leadership roles at the K-12 or university level. Several CMM teachers have become principals or assistant principals to influence district policy, change school climate, hire CMM graduates, and/or elevate the outcomes of a formally low-performing school.
Education programs at AU will provide the student with a rigorous and engaging learning experience that emphasizes the knowledge, intellectual skills, and conceptual frameworks central to the discipline. A central, cohering value of the Anderson University academic experience is that each field of study includes a rich core of liberal arts courses in the foundational fields of human knowledge and achievement. These courses comprise the requisite knowledge to facilitate the development of skills in critical thinking, interpersonal relationships, ethical reflection, and an appreciation of the fine arts as integral to an educated citizenry.
Anderson University is a Christ-centered community that presents Jesus as the Christ and as the ultimate model for personal behavior. The unifying principle of Anderson University is a Christian vision of life in which community participants are encouraged to develop a Christian worldview and live up to the high calling of the Great Commandments, which tells us to love God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and to love others completely. We seek to build an academic community where men and women can be lovingly and gracefully introduced to an understanding of God, His creation and grace, and humanity’s place of great privilege and responsibility in God’s world. The Call Me MiSTER program at AU is positioned within this ethos.
The Call Me MiSTER initiative provides tuition assistance, internships, and leadership development specifically for students pursuing education undergraduate degrees with the aim of teaching. Changing your degree to a non-education major will result in dismissal from the Call Me MiSTER program and forfeiture of tuition assistance and all other program benefits.
While Au’s Call Me MiSTER program seeks to contribute to the African American male teacher deficit in South Carolina, MiSTERs have the option to teach in other states.
Current AU MiSTERs
Khalil, an Elementary Education major, is from Spartanburg and Mauldin, SC. He has felt called to serve others since he was little and wanted to find a career that would enable him to pour into other people. Desiring not to follow the same career path as his parents, Khalil resisted the idea of becoming an educator. However, shortly before attending college, he realized that teaching would enable him to fulfill his calling of service and help set the foundation for young children’s educational careers. After conversations with a friend who had previously gone through the CMM program. Khalil found it very interesting that there were many black males in his major who felt passionate about educating children, and he wanted to build relationships with them and share in their passion for education. As a result, he pursued CMM.
During his senior year of high school, he sustained a football injury that sidelined him for the entire season. While trying to find a school where he could receive a good education and play football at a high level, he came across AU. Initially he was recruited to play football, but he soon found AU to have a welcoming atmosphere that felt like home and would contribute to his flourish as a young man. In addition to playing football, Khalil is very involved on campus and serves in various capacities such as Base Camp, Alpha Leader, SGA, I Am Mentoring Program, Connect Club, Guest Services, and Diversity, Community, and Inclusion.
D’Andre, a junior from Walterboro, SC, is pursuing a degree in music education with a concentration in vocal/choral studies at Anderson University. His commitment to campus life is evident through his involvement in the Student Government Association, serving as a residential advisor, and working with the South Carolina School of the Arts. D’Andre has also spend the last two summers working with Basecamp. In addition to his academic pursuits, D’Andre is actively engaged in a variety of extracurricular activities, including Farsketched Improv, gospel choir, and the AU worship team.
His passion for teaching was inspired by the educators who nurtured his talents during high school, guiding him to reach his potential. D’Andre is committed to helping students discover and grow in their purpose, just as his teachers did for him. Originally a political science major, D’Andre switched to music education after learning about the Call Me MiSTER program and its mission to connect young male leaders in education. He chose Anderson University not only for its academic excellence but also for the holistic support the staff provides, nurturing students spiritually, mentally, and emotionally, as well as academically.
Quick Links
The Office of Diversity,
Community & Inclusion
G. Ross Anderson, Jr. Student Center, Suite 218
Anderson, SC 29621
Hours: 8:30 am – 4:30 pm
Phone: 864-231-2165
