Britton-Deerfield graduate is trailblazer in Adrian College Teacher Education Program
Posted Friday, October 27, 2023
Author: Braden Musser
Jillian Molnar, a Sophomore at Adrian College (AC), was recently accepted into the AC Teacher Education Graduate program and will be the first student to combine undergraduate classes as well as graduate courses, intending to complete both an undergraduate degree and a Master’s in just five academic years.
Molnar is a Lenawee native and a graduate of Britton-Deerfield High School.
“I am very passionate about teaching,” Molnar said. “I grew up with wonderful teachers and I knew I wanted to be a teacher and so, of course, in all of my Teacher Ed courses I do what I can to succeed and more. I’m always looking to take another step or maybe push myself a little bit further.”
AC offers a Master of Education program that, alongside a bachelor’s degree, allows teachers to compete for higher pay and excel in their professions. This degree includes an additional thirty credit hours and is something that typically comes after completing an undergraduate degree and gaining work experience.
Next spring, Molnar will begin to incorporate graduate courses on her path to completing AC’s Master of Education in Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment program. Molnar is looking to begin her career post-graduation as a high school English teacher, hoping to one day teach higher education and potentially return to the Teacher Education program at AC.
Molnar’s drive and passion have been on display outside of the classroom as well, as she is also a member of the Student Government Association and the Honors Program at AC. She has also recently published her first children’s book, “The Ghost Goat”, a Halloween-themed story about a group of farm animal friends and their trick-or-treating adventure, which can be found on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, as she plans on continuing to write children’s books alongside her future career in teaching.
Molnar said her advanced degree opportunity is all thanks to her professors, specifically, Kyle Griffith of the Teacher Education Department. He was Molnar’s main source of support and inspiration for taking on the master’s program.
“He is definitely one of my biggest mentors right now,” Molnar said. “He is always looking to get me in contact with people that will help me on my journey.”
Molnar’s drive to succeed in her studies stood out from day one and was the reason he introduced the “trailblazer” to this master’s degree path.
“It’s one thing to kind of map out the possibilities, but then, you really need to think about the person that could do this, the type of person that could do it and the two elements aligned, it was perfect timing” Griffith said.
In the future, Griffith hopes that more students with the same level of passion for learning will follow Molnar’s example and challenge themselves academically to set themselves up for success in their future careers.
“If a student is ready, like Jillian, why not let them dabble in taking some advanced coursework?” Griffith said. “Why not challenge them to press beyond what the norm is?”
For more information about the AC Teacher Education Department, visit adrian.edu, or email Kyle Griffith at kgriffith@adrian.edu.
