The state teaching fellows program is specifically designed to attract high-quality teachers to low-performing schools by offering an accelerated loan forgiveness schedules for Fellows who agree to teach in a low-performing school in North Carolina.
Eight Elon students have been selected for the newly reformed N.C. Teaching Fellows program.
The mission of the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program is to recruit, prepare and support students attending North Carolina’s top education programs for preparation as highly effective STEM or special education teachers in the state’s public schools.
Fellows will receive up to $8,250 per year in forgivable loans if they commit to teach in a STEM or a special education area. The program is specifically designed to attract high-quality teachers to low-performing schools by offering an accelerated loan forgiveness schedule for Teaching Fellows who agree to teach in a low-performing school in North Carolina.
The following Elon students have been selected as 2018 Teaching Fellows:
Kylee Gomilla ‘20, Mathematics with Teacher Licensure
Sara Gostomski ‘20, Special Education and Elementary Education
Zoe Grove ‘20, Middle Grades Education with Mathematics Concentration
Nicole Kister ‘20, Mathematics with Teacher Licensure
Paige Knapke ‘20, Special Education and Elementary Education
Michalene Lee ‘20, Middle Grades Education with Mathematics Concentration
Ashley Pritchard ‘20, Mathematics with Teacher Licensure
Rylie Torretti ‘20, Middle Grades Education with Mathematics Concentration
Overall, the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Commission has named 110 individuals as the inaugural class of North Carolina Teaching Fellows. Following the program’s return last year, the Commission received 232 total applications and named approximately 150 semi-finalists. Teaching Fellows applicants were evaluated on the following measures: GPA, standardized test scores, leadership and experience, a written essay and mission statement, and for those moved forward as a semi-finalist, an in-person interview.
Teaching Fellows interviews were hosted by community college campuses at six different locations around the state: Cape Fear Community College (Wilmington), Beaufort County Community College (Washington), Wake Technical Community College (Raleigh), Forsyth Technical Community College (Winston-Salem), Central Piedmont Community College (Charlotte), and Haywood Community College (Clyde). Interview panelists included former Teaching Fellows and current educators, school administrators, business and community leaders, legislators, and North Carolina Teaching Fellows Commission members.
“This first North Carolina Teaching Fellows class represents the best and brightest prospective teachers our state has to offer,” said Dean Mary Ann Danowitz of N.C. State, the commission’s chairperson. “I congratulate each of them on this prestigious accomplishment, and am excited and optimistic about what they will bring to our students and classrooms in the future.”
North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program Highlights:
- The amount of the forgivable loan is up to $8,250.
- Any student with a high school, associates or bachelor’s degree is eligible. Even students who wish to transfer or change their majors are eligible.
- Teachers have 10 years to pay back the loan, either through cash repayment or loan forgiveness. In order to meet the loan forgiveness requirement, a teacher is required to serve one year in a low-performing school or two years in another public school for every year they were awarded a forgivable loan.