Brittney Dinac: Support made all the difference
VSU alum thankful for help from RTR cohort, SOE faculty and staff
By Shania Stevenson
As a Virginia State University alumna from Chestnut Ridge, New York, Dinac was torn between returning home after obtaining her undergraduate degree or staying in Richmond. One professor's post on Blackboard (now Canvas) about RTR, a school-based teacher preparation program at the VCU School of Education, helped her make her decision. This program pays for you to get your master’s degree with a one-year residency commitment without having to stress about financial costs.
Now having earned her M.Ed in Curriculum and Instruction from SOE in 2019, Dinac reflects on her residency experience. She confesses that the RTR program was very rigorous and intense, but notes that the togetherness of her cohort and the timeless support from VCU SOE faculty and staff made all the difference. Whenever she was struggling and reached out for help, Dinac says that it was never “I can't find the answer to that,“ but rather, “Let me find someone who can.” For her, VCU SOE carried the same motto as her undergrad university: “Where are WE going?”
She knew that she was not on this journey alone.