Foundation Recruiting For Teacher Fellowships
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
Since 2007, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, through its teaching fellowships, has been working to stem that tide.
Eric Bedel, director of regional fellowships, visited the Warsaw area recently to promote the fellowship and its benefits to not only Indiana, but Kosciusko County and Warsaw as well.
During a telephone interview Thursday morning, Bedel said the foundation’s work in education goes back to World War II. With the G.I. Bill, the government knew thousands would be going to college after the war, but there weren’t enough professors. The government approached Princeton University about preparing people to become teachers. Ever since then, the Foundation has been tied to education and whatever the educational needs are in the country.
Several years ago, Bedel said, the Princeton, N.J.,-based foundation was told the country was falling behind in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and more teachers were needed to teach those areas. The Foundation decided to take it on by a state-by-state basis.
Letters were sent out to every governor in the United States. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels was the first to respond, and Indiana became the first state to adopt the program. The Lilly Endowment and the Indiana Department of Education provided funding for the fellowship program.
Indiana is now in its third year. The program has grown to Ohio and Michigan, with New Jersey soon to be added.
Bedel said the program is still recruiting recent graduates and career changers, which is why he recently visited the Warsaw area.
“We don’t really have a statewide footprint,” Bedel said. “To make an impact, we have to be all over the state.”
Recruits are fresh out of college, or looking for a career change. They have backgrounds in one of the STEM areas. All take a classroom-based master’s program in teacher education at a participating university. They receive a $30,000 stipend for the year and make a commitment to teach for a minimum of three years in Indiana.
“We literally send them back for a year, and they walk out with a teacher’s license,” Bedel said.
The participating universities in Indiana include Purdue, West Lafayette; Ball State, Muncie; Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis; and the University of Indianapolis. Bedel said Ball State is setting up a satellite operation in Fort Wayne for the program.
“Everyone seems to be excited about the program when they do it,” he said.
The fellows have been very successful at finding jobs. One such example is Warsaw Community High School teacher Kaleigh Felisberto.
Felisberto started teaching at Warsaw in August. She teaches Chemistry I, Honors Organic Chemistry and Integrated Physics.
Originally from central Pennsylvania, she did her undergraduate work at Ohio Wesleyan University. The university has a program for juniors to help them find stuff like fellowships for life after graduation.
In a telephone interview Thursday afternoon, Felisberto said she was interested in teaching, but her major was chemistry. Her professor informed her about the foundation’s teacher fellowship, which at that time was in its first year in Indiana.
During her senior year, Felisberto sent in her application. She interviewed in the winter, and heard back in the spring she had been accepted.
“It was a really good (decision),” she said.
After graduating OWU, she earned her master’s degree at Ball State. At a teachers fair at Ball State, she met WCHS Assistant Principal Steve Ferber. Really impressed with what she heard about Warsaw, she applied for a job at the high school, and she got it.
“Definitely a good choice. I am really liking it,” she said.
“I definitely think this is what I want to do,” Felisberto said. “I really love it. It’s a nice blend. It combines my love of chemistry and teaching.”[[In-content Ad]]During a fellow’s three-year commitment to a high-need Indiana school, the foundation pays for a mentor for the fellow. The mentor may be a retired teacher or professor. Having a mentor helps, Bedel said, because as the fellow gets acclimated to teaching, they know they have a resource to turn to for questions.
Asked how the fellowship program can help Kosciusko County and the local orthopedics companies, Bedel said when you read what OrthoWorx and BioCrossroads have brought together, the fellowship program offers a small piece to that puzzle. It brings more of an educated and an interested workforce to the community. It helps bring teachers to local school systems that can help connect the classroom to businesses. The teachers know what skills are needed and can energize and provide to students what goes on outside of the classroom.
“What we see is the best way to grow this,” Bedel said. “It’s done in a coordinated fashion.”
Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship is an “equivalent” of a Rhodes Scholarship for teachers, Bedel said. They want high-end people who’ve had success in the classroom, and who had great grade point averages. There is an interview process to become a fellow.
People with various backgrounds have applied to the program, Bedel said. There’s been a pilot, housewife, beekeeper and a retired chief financial officer.
“It’s experience, passion, belief in helping in the classroom. You really will see it in the classroom – they have a passion for the program,” Bedel said.
The application is available on the website at woodrow.org
Deadline for the upcoming school year is March 15. Acceptance is in April, with Daniels announcing the new fellows in May. Classes start in June.
Each year, Bedel said, they have 60 to 80 fellows, depending on the number and quality of candidates. People can apply for next year if they don’t to start this year.
The program, he said, is not controversial; it is not a Democrat or Republican, union or non-union program. It is, he said, a “win-win-win” for everyone.
“It’s just exciting,” Bedel said. “Old and younger people who love what they do. Thanks to Lilly and the Indiana Department of Education, we’ll run this as long as we can.”
Since 2007, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, through its teaching fellowships, has been working to stem that tide.
Eric Bedel, director of regional fellowships, visited the Warsaw area recently to promote the fellowship and its benefits to not only Indiana, but Kosciusko County and Warsaw as well.
During a telephone interview Thursday morning, Bedel said the foundation’s work in education goes back to World War II. With the G.I. Bill, the government knew thousands would be going to college after the war, but there weren’t enough professors. The government approached Princeton University about preparing people to become teachers. Ever since then, the Foundation has been tied to education and whatever the educational needs are in the country.
Several years ago, Bedel said, the Princeton, N.J.,-based foundation was told the country was falling behind in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and more teachers were needed to teach those areas. The Foundation decided to take it on by a state-by-state basis.
Letters were sent out to every governor in the United States. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels was the first to respond, and Indiana became the first state to adopt the program. The Lilly Endowment and the Indiana Department of Education provided funding for the fellowship program.
Indiana is now in its third year. The program has grown to Ohio and Michigan, with New Jersey soon to be added.
Bedel said the program is still recruiting recent graduates and career changers, which is why he recently visited the Warsaw area.
“We don’t really have a statewide footprint,” Bedel said. “To make an impact, we have to be all over the state.”
Recruits are fresh out of college, or looking for a career change. They have backgrounds in one of the STEM areas. All take a classroom-based master’s program in teacher education at a participating university. They receive a $30,000 stipend for the year and make a commitment to teach for a minimum of three years in Indiana.
“We literally send them back for a year, and they walk out with a teacher’s license,” Bedel said.
The participating universities in Indiana include Purdue, West Lafayette; Ball State, Muncie; Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis; and the University of Indianapolis. Bedel said Ball State is setting up a satellite operation in Fort Wayne for the program.
“Everyone seems to be excited about the program when they do it,” he said.
The fellows have been very successful at finding jobs. One such example is Warsaw Community High School teacher Kaleigh Felisberto.
Felisberto started teaching at Warsaw in August. She teaches Chemistry I, Honors Organic Chemistry and Integrated Physics.
Originally from central Pennsylvania, she did her undergraduate work at Ohio Wesleyan University. The university has a program for juniors to help them find stuff like fellowships for life after graduation.
In a telephone interview Thursday afternoon, Felisberto said she was interested in teaching, but her major was chemistry. Her professor informed her about the foundation’s teacher fellowship, which at that time was in its first year in Indiana.
During her senior year, Felisberto sent in her application. She interviewed in the winter, and heard back in the spring she had been accepted.
“It was a really good (decision),” she said.
After graduating OWU, she earned her master’s degree at Ball State. At a teachers fair at Ball State, she met WCHS Assistant Principal Steve Ferber. Really impressed with what she heard about Warsaw, she applied for a job at the high school, and she got it.
“Definitely a good choice. I am really liking it,” she said.
“I definitely think this is what I want to do,” Felisberto said. “I really love it. It’s a nice blend. It combines my love of chemistry and teaching.”[[In-content Ad]]During a fellow’s three-year commitment to a high-need Indiana school, the foundation pays for a mentor for the fellow. The mentor may be a retired teacher or professor. Having a mentor helps, Bedel said, because as the fellow gets acclimated to teaching, they know they have a resource to turn to for questions.
Asked how the fellowship program can help Kosciusko County and the local orthopedics companies, Bedel said when you read what OrthoWorx and BioCrossroads have brought together, the fellowship program offers a small piece to that puzzle. It brings more of an educated and an interested workforce to the community. It helps bring teachers to local school systems that can help connect the classroom to businesses. The teachers know what skills are needed and can energize and provide to students what goes on outside of the classroom.
“What we see is the best way to grow this,” Bedel said. “It’s done in a coordinated fashion.”
Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship is an “equivalent” of a Rhodes Scholarship for teachers, Bedel said. They want high-end people who’ve had success in the classroom, and who had great grade point averages. There is an interview process to become a fellow.
People with various backgrounds have applied to the program, Bedel said. There’s been a pilot, housewife, beekeeper and a retired chief financial officer.
“It’s experience, passion, belief in helping in the classroom. You really will see it in the classroom – they have a passion for the program,” Bedel said.
The application is available on the website at woodrow.org
Deadline for the upcoming school year is March 15. Acceptance is in April, with Daniels announcing the new fellows in May. Classes start in June.
Each year, Bedel said, they have 60 to 80 fellows, depending on the number and quality of candidates. People can apply for next year if they don’t to start this year.
The program, he said, is not controversial; it is not a Democrat or Republican, union or non-union program. It is, he said, a “win-win-win” for everyone.
“It’s just exciting,” Bedel said. “Old and younger people who love what they do. Thanks to Lilly and the Indiana Department of Education, we’ll run this as long as we can.”
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