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PROGRAM OVERVIEW:
The EPICS Program seeks to develop a corps of highly motivated and committed young educators to meet the needs of our country’s most underserved elementary and secondary schools.

EPICS is modeled after Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE), which recruits student volunteers from all colleges and universities that have an undergraduate degree program in education. These new teachers will teach in parochial schools in urban areas throughout New Jersey.

To carry out this core teaching mission, EPICS recruits talented graduates from all educational undergraduate programs . These students represent a diverse set of backgrounds and experiences and receive an intensive two-year in-service experience. Three pillars characterize the EPICS program; professional development; community life; and spiritual growth. These components are at the heart of the EPICS initiative. They aim to provide excellence in education and to maximize opportunities for personal and professional growth for program participants.

The EPICS program has two tracks. The first track is for those who are certified as teachers and wish to earn a Master's in Education degree. The second track is for those who have a teachable discipline and wish to become certified as elementary and secondary teachers while pursuing a Master's in Education degree.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
EPICS teachers undergo an intensive teacher education program designed and administered by Seton Hall University. The EPICS professional training spans two years and integrates graduate-level course work with an immersion experience in teaching. After admission to the program, EPICS teachers study together at Seton Hall University. The sessions combine an innovative teaching curriculum taught by seasoned practitioners and select faculty from Seton Hall University with supervised field experience in the Catholic elementary and high schools of the five dioceses of New Jersey.

These students serve as full-time teachers during the regular school year. In addition to the support of mentor-teacher environment in the parochial schools where they teach, all EPICS teachers convene annually for a retreat experience. The retreat is designed to deepen and enhance their commitment to becoming professional educators.

Upon completion of two years in the EPICS program, participants will have fulfilled the requirements for a Masters of Arts in Education, state certificate and will have provided an urgently needed presence in the lives of our nation’s most needy school children.

Additionally in this graduate program, EPICS participants receive:

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT:
EPICS teachers have the option to live in community and together experience and share the many challenges and rewards of beginning teaching. Each local EPICS community becomes a naturally supportive environment, forming part of the local parochial and neighborhood school community. The program offers one workshop-retreat during the regular school year, to assist in providing participants with skills to live a healthy community life. In addition to the support EPICS teachers receive from one another, local diocesan resource people and Seton Hall University members are present to accompany the teachers in establishing an effective presence within the local communities.  Community development is also enhanced through various group activities such as holiday celebrations, basketball games, program farewell celebration, etc.

SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT:
In the life of each local community, EPICS participants are invited to develop their own personal spirituality and faith in the context of community, and to share with one another the journey of becoming committed Catholic schoolteachers. In each local community, EPICS teachers have access to the services of local resource people who are available to assist them in developing the interior life. It is the expectation of the program that members of each local community together develop their own spiritual life and prayer, taking into account differing schedules and the personal experiences of each member of the community. Consistent with this expectation, an important goal of the program is to provide EPICS participants with the tools to become reflective professional educators and people of faith.

Though EPICS participants commit themselves formally to only a relatively brief experience as teachers, EPICS seeks to provide talented young people with an opportunity to explore teaching as a vocation. Ultimately, EPICS invites all its members to become lifetime advocates for Catholic education and the promotion of our nation’s most valuable resource: its children.

CONTACT US:
College of Education and Human Services
EPICS Program
Seton Hall University
400 South Orange Ave., South Orange, NJ 07079
Phone: (973) 761-9390 or Fax: (973) 275-2187