Page 22 - South Mississippi Living - June, 2022

COAST NOTE
story and photos courtesy of the Real Estate Training Institute
Teaching courses for the Real Estate Training Institute is a labor of love for Leslie Clauson. She and her husband, Jim Clauson, moved to the Coast from Los Angeles County, California, and purchased the Real Estate Training Institute in 2011. Since then, the duo has combined their talents to make the Real Estate Training Institute
a recognizable Mississippi Small Business name.
Leslie’s specialties are developing courses and delivery methods. The courses being delivered today are the result of an ongoing 10-year mission. Jim, a retired E8, First Sergeant concentrates his energy on the back office and day-to-day activities to keep the school and the students up to date. Utilizing his military background and experience from teaching at the Army and Navy Academy High School, Jim’s management and organizational skills are multi-faceted.
The school instructors are members of the Real Estate Educators Association (REEA). Instructor
Hollye Granier served on REEA’s Board of Directors for two years. All instructors have earned their Gold Star Instructor’s designation with REEA. Leslie has gone on to earn the prestigious Distinguished Real Estate Instructor (DREI) designation, making her the first DREI in Mississippi. Jim
and Granier, as well as instructor Susie Piercy, are currently DREI candidates.
While on the DREI Leadership Council, Leslie was challenged to write an instructor course addressing the post-COVID classroom. In response, she developed an advanced online platform for schools. This innovative educational system helps the Real Estate Training Institute’s instructors to deliver quality, consistent and interactive challenges for their students. In 2021, Leslie received a national award from the Distinguished Real Estate Educators (DREE) group for her contributions to real estate education.
Learner resources are extensive. The school’s support site, chat, and games are available 24/7. Learners can choose to read, play videos,
take practice exams of over 3,000 questions, or play vocabulary games, Pac-Man style games, match games, crossword puzzles, and more. At the request of former students, the Real Estate Training Institute opened a Google Classroom for each class so that contributions and comments for learning can be posted and learners can interact with each other.
School locations are Biloxi, Southaven, Oxford, and Hattiesburg. There are license classes every month.
22 | June 2022
Leslie and Jim Clauson.
Suzy Piercy.
Real Estate Training Institute
2650 Beach Blvd., Ste. 35, Biloxi 228.354.8585 www.msrealtycourses.com
Hollye Granier.
www.smliving.net | SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living
EMPOWERING THE NEXT GENERATION
REAL ESTATE TRAINING INSTITUTE