When Montara Clay graduated from McDaniel in May 2024 with her B.A. in Mathematics, she leaped immediately into the Teacher Collaborative Fellowship program to earn her M.S.T. It only made sense to stay at the college she knew and loved, with its close relationships between teachers and students. It felt like home to her.
Since the M.S.T. program is designed for those with undergraduate degrees in a range of subjects, it was also a good fit with Clay’s math background. She had found her stride as a mathematician in college and always tied it back to education; her capstone was about two ways that you can teach the heat equation to high schoolers.
She has wanted to be a teacher since she was in high school — inspired by her mother.
“My mom is a teacher and watching the impact her teaching has had on students throughout the years is awe-inspiring,” Clay says. “She created a legacy for herself through teaching and her passion to be a positive role model to her students.”
As an undergraduate, Clay got a glimpse of what it is like to teach K-12 math with internships at West Middle School, Franklin Middle School, and Manchester Valley High School. She learned classroom management and ways to connect with students. But the accelerated, one-year Teacher Collaborative Fellowship program has given her a much deeper understanding of the field.
“This fellowship has made teaching a reality, because it gives me daily experience and perspective on what it takes to be a teacher,” she says.
Every school day, she teaches classes on geometry, algebra, and pre-calculus to ninth through eleventh graders at Liberty High School in Carroll County. One of her biggest challenges so far? Asking the right questions during lessons.
“Learning how to create high-level questions requires a lot of practice and prep before the lesson to help with generating them,” she says. In the classroom, she focuses on being present for her students to keep them engaged in the learning process.
The rigorous fellowship has helped Clay truly discover her identity as an educator. Teaching by day and being a student herself by night means she has “a great support system and cohort that helps me accomplish assignments and review them with provided advice,” she says.
Through McDaniel’s strong partnerships with regional schools, the M.S.T. program includes close mentorship opportunities for graduate students in their assigned schools. “I have been developing and growing as a teacher through working with an experienced mentor teacher, and the staff have provided very helpful tips,” Clay says.
As she works to build her own legacy through teaching, Clay perseveres through the ups and downs of being an educator. And she has been rewarded for her resilience by watching students learn and grow in her classroom — as she does, too.
