Thousands of aspiring teachers encounter few job offers at Oregon job fair
By Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian
April 06, 2010, 6:09PM
Christy Dunn, left, and Stephanie Ostlund were among the hundreds of aspiring teachers flocking to the job fair at the Oregon Convention Center, which continues Wednesday.Christy Dunn, who earned a master's degree in teaching math last year, and Stephanie Ostlund, who got her master's in teaching English in 2008, stood together in a long, slow line Tuesday morning at the West Coast's biggest teacher job fair.
The two women, both with degrees from Portland State and the University of Portland, held a stack of resumes and thick portfolios packed with evidence of their teaching skills -- and tried to hold fast to their dreams of becoming teachers.
They were among 3,000 aspiring educators, most of them recent or soon-to-be graduates from Oregon colleges of education, vying for what