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The Anonymous Trust is giving $7.25 million to North Carolina State University’s College of Education for a scholarship program that the college will use to prepare teachers for Eastern North Carolina classrooms, according to a press release from the college.
The program is called the Transformational Scholarships Program and is targeting counties “with fewer resources but great needs,” the press release stated.
“This new Transformational Scholarships program will be truly transformational. It will transform the lives of 100 students from Eastern North Carolina who may otherwise not be able to afford college. But also, through the preparation they will receive in our college, these aspiring teachers will go on to transform the lives of those children and youth they teach,” said N.C. State College of Education Dean Mary Ann Danowitz, D.Ed, in a press release. “What’s more, as these Transformational Scholars become part of the change agent educational workforce of Eastern North Carolina, they will deepen the collective impact of teachers and administrative leaders working together to strengthen and lift up entire schools and communities.”
The release went on to say that this is the largest gift for student scholarships “since records have been kept, and among the largest of its kind ever awarded to any college of education in North Carolina to prepare teachers.”
Twenty students will start under this program in 2022-23 with 20 additional students joining each year for the next four, the press release stated. They will receive $10,000 a year each for all four years of college.
The press release states that scholarship recipients “will be selected based on their demonstrated financial need; the community where they live; their commitment to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion; and their commitment to the teaching profession.”
Part of the goal of the scholarship program is to diversify the teacher pool in North Carolina. The press release states that 20% of the state’s teachers are teachers of color while more than half of the state’s student population are students of color.
“We know representation is imperative to improving educational outcomes of all learners,” Danowitz said in the release. “But we also know that finances are one of the biggest barriers many students of color and bilingual students face when they consider higher education and a teaching career. Through this charitable grant, the Anonymous Trust is opening up doors of opportunity for many promising future teachers of color and bilingual teachers.”