WOODBURY — With the return of Nonnewaug’s Future Educators Club, the organization’s students put together a little extra effort for Teacher Appreciation Week, including a spirit week with themed dress-up days.

The week of May 6-10 includes teacher appreciation gifts, a contest to identify staff members’ baby photos, and much more.

Rebecca Gambardella, club advisor and English teacher at Nonnewaug, said the club started up to give students an opportunity to learn about the different fields in education.

“I think it’s important for students to know that education is not just being a teacher,” Gambardella said. “There’s so many different professions that work with students. You could be a nurse, a counselor, a librarian, a coach; there’s so many options to choose from, and we are here to make students aware of that if that’s something they’re looking into in the future.”

Zach Cordova, a junior who serves as president of the Future Educators Club, says the club is here to help students gain experience for the future. New members are welcome to join.

“The Future Educators Club is here to help its members gain experience for future work and help them gain life skills if that’s what they’re interested in for the future.” Cordova said.

Faith Lally, a senior, says the reason she wanted to join the club was because she wanted to see what it would be like to possibly be an educator one day.

“I wanted to join the club because I have a family history of teachers and I wanted to see what it would be like if I were to be an educator too someday,” Lally said.

Gambardella says that there are scholarships available for students who work hard in school and show a lot of interest towards going into education.

“We have scholarships available for students who would like to be educators in the future and are going to college for it,” Gambardella said, “and we would just like to raise awareness of all the different career fields there are.”