After arriving at their first class of the day, a student notices an unfamiliar face setting up the projector. They remember their teacher had scheduled a guest speaker to accompany the class lesson and they sit down to listen.

Many teachers on campus often build their curriculum to include voices from outside the classroom, advocating for perspectives and speeches from guest speakers as well as online platforms to enhance their courses and enrich their students’ experiences in their class.

San Jose State Admissions counselor and recruiter Marlen Perez has often visited schools within the Bay Area as a guest speaker to provide insight into college programs. She believes providing a representative from other schools benefits students’ futures.

“It’s very important to get that face-to-face connection with our students, making sure that they have access to information that if they have any questions, they’re able to ask a San Jose State University representative,” Perez said.

Along with the advantage of connecting with those on campus, sophomore Sophia Stearns noted the impact of adding alternative resources to the student’s schedule. She explained many schedules are limited to seven classes a school year and believes the additional resource of alternative platforms often advances students’ learning experiences.

“It just adds another layer to the learning, especially with the limited classes you can take,” Stearns said. “Having those extra resources and different perspectives are helpful.”

Sophomore Maddy Schmitt believes students benefit from exposure to speakers who share their experience in various career fields and academic subjects.

“They (guest speakers) talk about their experience in engineering, high school and their path,” Schmitt said.

Senior Kiara Johnson appreciates the outside narrative and alternative perspective that guest speakers provide in addition to her teachers’ curricula and views.

“The teacher always has one view and the person always has another view, so you get to see two sides to the story,” Johnson said.

Despite the advantage of gaining alternative perspectives, many teachers often struggle to balance their own lessons alongside outside resources. Social science teacher Christine Byerley discussed her schedule conflict of including guest speakers in addition to her everyday curriculum.

“Just locating these other voices also takes time for me to either find them digitally or find them in real life and get them to schedule and come in,” Byerley said.

Schmitt believes the addition of outside resources in classroom settings ultimately benefits students and their perspectives, which she found helps to educate them and prepare for their futures.

“Learning about that is good insight to know what I want to do for my future,” Schmitt said.