“Making the transition to the other side of the desk, from student to teacher.”

The act of giving apples to educators is a tradition that dates back to around 16th century Scandinavia, and – though less common today – it’s a gesture that carried over onto the American frontier.

“Families were often responsible for housing and providing for teachers if they wanted their children to attend school,” Debora Bays Wilbon, an associate dean and the director of field experience for the College of Education and Human Development, recently explained. “Because apples were an abundant crop, students would bring their teachers apples as a form of sustenance and a token of appreciation.”

Wilbon was speaking on Jan. 18, at the start of Radford University’s spring 2025 Student Teacher Pinning Ceremony, during which fledgling educators officially commence their student teaching phase and, ultimately, provide firsthand instruction in local schools and classrooms.

At that event, each candidate is given a symbolic pin – a golden apple – presented to them personally by friends and family members as, one by one, they cross the Bondurant Auditorium’s stage. 

During this semester’s pinning, some 46 of Radford’s pre-service students received their golden apples.

“Today is an important milestone in your professional journey: you are making a transition to the other side of the desk, from student to teacher,” Dean Tamara Wallace , of the College of Education and Human Development, told the candidates.

“There is no job with more consequence than that of being a teacher,” she continued. “Teachers shape lives, transform communities and change the world.”

Wallace also recognized the students’ friends and family members (“A significant reason we are sitting here today is because of your love, support and guidance,”) as well as the university’s local public K-12 colleagues, whose schools welcome the new student teachers.

“Thank you for opening your classrooms to our candidates,” Wallace told the representatives of the participating schools. “You are an integral component of our education preparation program, and we appreciate your partnership in the education of our candidates.”

The ceremony’s keynote speaker, Elizabeth Ferguson ’23, is a graduate of Radford’s education preparation program and is currently midway through her second year of teaching fifth-grade math and science at Christiansburg Elementary School.

Ferguson’s speech was titled “From Seed to Tree,” and fittingly discussed the life cycle of apples. It pointed out the parallels between a student’s evolution toward becoming an educator and the apple’s passage from seed to sprout, then into a tree that spawns still more fruit, giving them life and vital support.

“Is there anything more magical? You become the deliverer to others of what you’ve always needed. There is actually, truly, seriously, genuinely… nothing that is more fulfilling and worthwhile. That is why I became a teacher: I wanted my life and efforts to matter,” she said.

Ferguson also provided a series of practical tips she’d picked up on the job. She urged the student teachers to remain connected to their original dreams and disciplines; advised them that if they want to be taken seriously, they must be serious in terms of their approach and appearance; noted that it’s better to stand out than to blend into the crowd; and, using the fable of “Androcles and the Lion,” illustrated the value of helping others. 

Radford University offers 23 educator preparation programs that can lead to initial Virginia teacher licensure.