Drawing on critical Whiteness studies (CWS) alongside theories of engagement and critical consciousness, we share the story of two student teachers (STs) who were identified as "fully engaged" during urban student teaching. At the program level, results indicate that the STs' teacher preparation program favored compliant engagement over rebellion and reinforces and recenters White-dominant norms and ideologies. Looking specifically at the STs' experiences, both engaged in relationship building, resisted curriculum, and felt a sense of responsibility to and for their students. Despite these similarities, only one of the student teacher's stories included enactments of criticality while the other displayed more dysconscious ways of doing/being in the field. Implications for how we conceptualize student teacher engagement within teacher preparation programs, including how to support student teachers to engage critically during field experiences, are shared.