Four Brookland-Cayce High School students have been awarded the prestigious South Carolina Teaching Fellowship.

The seniors will join freshman cohorts this fall at the following universities: Caroline Boone and Jenna Pownall, University of South Carolina-Columbia;  Emily Crow, Anderson University; and Alexis Toller, University of South Carolina-Aiken. They will be offered numerous professional development opportunities and be involved with communities and businesses through various service projects and partnerships with local schools.

Just 215 students were selected statewide as Teaching Fellows, with four of those from Brookland-Cayce.

A Future Educator Signing Day ceremony was held for the students at Brookland-Cayce High School on May 4, attended by district and school administrators, along with representatives Derrick Hines, Director of the Teaching Fellows Program and Teacher Cadet Campus Coordinator for the University of South Carolina-Columbia, and Arthur Pinckney, Pre-Collegiate Program Facilitator with the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement, which sponsors the Teaching Fellows program.

“I am very proud of this group of future educators and their decision to join the ranks of education,” said Terry Boone, Brookland-Cayce’s Teacher Cadet instructor.  “They represent the best of our school community and I firmly believe that they will make an impact on the future of countless lives in the years to come.  Each one of them has been impacted by so many quality educators and they want to emulate that same influence.  Most of them have participated in the Teacher Cadet Program and they have seen first hand what a life-changing career they have chosen.

The state’s Teaching Fellows Program, operated by the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement (CERRA), was established in 1999 by the SC General Assembly. The program’s mission is to recruit talented high school seniors into the teaching profession and help them develop leadership qualities. Each year, the program provides Fellowships for up to 200 high school seniors who have exhibited high academic achievement, a history of service to their school and community, and a desire to teach in South Carolina.

Applicants for the program undergo a rigorous selection process that includes an online application, an interview and presentation in front of a team of three educators, and a scored response.

Following the rigorous selection process, applicants who are awarded a Fellowship receive up to $24,000 in scholarships (up to $6,000 a year for four years) to attend a Teaching Fellows Institution in South Carolina. Each Fellow agrees to teach in a South Carolina public school for one year for every year they receive the Fellowship.

For more information about the program, visit cerra.org.

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CAPTION

From left, Alexis Toller, Jenna Pownall, Caroline Boone, and Emily Crow, all named SC Teaching Fellows, participated in a Future Teachers Signing Day at Brookland-Cayce High School. Terry Boone, the school’s Teacher Cadet instructor, stands with them.