Scholarship help comes for teachers

May 22—By Barry Porterfield

Typically it's the students who receive the scholarships, but a Pauls Valley group decided to do something different and also help out the teachers.

That help from the Pauls Valley Foundation for Academic Excellence came in the form of scholarships meant to help some teachers from Pauls Valley's junior high and elementary schools and Whitebead.

The idea is to pay for some of the costs of the teachers' continuing education and professional development even after the school year ends.

"This is the first year we've done this," said Matt Hamilton of the foundation.

"We wanted to provide much more help to teachers when they go into things meant to make them better teachers. Often they don't have the support when they try to do this.

"When we were made aware of this we decided to start doing this."

According to Hamilton, the foundation had $3,000 set aside for the teachers. He says when an unnamed person found out about it an anonymous donation came in bumping that total up to $10,000.

The funding is designed to help teachers' aides complete bachelor's degrees and current teachers finish graduate degree programs and training meant to "significantly" impact the classroom learning environment in Pauls Valley and Whitebead schools.

In all, a dozen presentations came for this Teacher Advancement/Professional Development Scholarship.

A list of recipients shows what this new scholarship program is funding.

1. Bryan Carr, Pauls Valley Junior High, bachelor's degree so he can become an excellent classroom teacher like Jonathan Wheeler.

2. Robyn Davidson, Pauls Valley Junior High, master's degree in special education, so she can become a better advocate and make a lasting impact on the lives of students with various disabilities.

3. Tatum Williams, Pauls Valley Junior High, professional development funding to enhance her skillset in her special education classroom.

4. Vicki Schmidt and Sally Tucker, Pauls Valley Elementary, professional development funding for additional reading training designed to address the language gap of students who are behind.

5. Kara Huff, Pauls Valley Elementary, bachelor's degree, has worked as a paraprofessional for eight years and desires to become a special education teacher.

6. Charlotte Apel, Pauls Valley Elementary, professional development funding for an intensive structured literacy program to enhance the reading skills of students regardless of level.

7. Rhea Ann Williamson and Charlotte Apel, professional development funding for a workshop called "Math Games That Will Make Your Instruction Come Alive."

8. Darci Williams, Pauls Valley Elementary, bachelor's degree, has worked as a teacher's assistant (currently in special education) and substitute teacher for more than 15 years combined, and she desires to become a certified teacher.

9. Erica Shippey, Whitebead, master's degree, to implement technology in the classroom better, to learn innovative approaches to teaching and to foster a transformational learning environment.

10. Alicia Groves, Whitebead, bachelor's degree, has worked as a paraprofessional for the last two years and desires to impact early childhood students through her classroom.

11. Kaitlynn Sanders, Whitebead, bachelor's degree, has worked as a paraprofessional for the last two years and desires to make a bigger impact in the future by earning her teaching degree.

12. Kara Bailey, Whitebead, master's degree in counseling, desires to learn the techniques and education to help enhance students' social-emotional learning skills and to holistically prepare and assist students to be the best they can be

"Due to the generosity of this donor, we were able to award more than triple the scholarships that we otherwise could have provided with just our original budget," Hamilton said.

"Hopefully it's something that can keep going into the future."

At the end of the school year, the foundation continued its normal practice of honoring local students with high-grade point averages in the classroom.

It also awarded scholarships to a handful of graduating PV seniors. This year that number is four to go with a few others receiving smaller amounts.

During the school year, the foundation also provided around $20,000 in grants to Pauls Valley and Whitebead teachers for their projects not otherwise funded.