According to a recent study, the teacher turnover rate is significantly higher than that of any other occupation in the country. An alarming number of teachers are leaving the field during their first three years in the classroom. In 1986, the North Carolina General Assembly decided to do address these frightening statistics and established an ambitious new teaching recruitment program, the North Carolina Teaching Fellows, to help fund the education of high-achieving students who promise to teach in North Carolina for a period of four years.Last year, out of 13 colleges that submitted proposals to establish the program on their campuses, Campbell University was one of four universities selected to participate in the Teaching Fellows program and was one of two campuses to begin the program in 2007. Program Director Dr. Carolyn Maidon of the Campbell University School of Education, recently reflected on the goals and gains of the university’s first year as a member of the North Carolina Teaching Fellows program.”In the fall of 2006, I had the opportunity to write the proposal to the state commission for a North Carolina Teaching Fellows program,” said Maidon. “I was told to make it what I wanted it to be, to make it a dream program. Then I was hired to run the program and it was really a dream come true for me.”The North Carolina Teaching Fellows program is committed to certain goals: to provide an academically and culturally enriched program extending beyond the classroom; to provide opportunities and experiences that encourage the development of leaders and decision makers; to provide opportunities for building and understanding the educator’s place in a great social context; and to improve the image of teacher education candidates and programs campus-wide, among others. Selected upon the basis of academic and civic achievement, each Teaching Fellow receives a $6,500 scholarship annually from the state with, at a minimum, matching funds from private universities with the program. The Campbell Fellows, on average, receive merit scholarship funds of $11,488 from the university for a total of approximately $17,988. This figure includes the $1,950 Legislative Tuition grant provided to North Carolina students enrolled in private institutions. Maidon and her Advisory Committee, which also included Dr. Karen Nery, dean of the School of Education, worked hard to provide learning enrichment opportunities and challenges for the Teaching Fellows program through field trips, dynamic speakers, community service projects, special events, seminars, internships, networking opportunities, study abroad opportunities, cultural and multicultural experiences and other events.”The mission of the Campbell program is to create teacher leaders of academic excellence as problem solvers with compassion who possess a sense of dedication to the profession and service to others,” Maidon said.U.S. Representative Bob Etheridge, North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and National Superintendent of the Year for 2004 Bill McNeal, were just some of the speakers who addressed the Teaching Fellows Leadership seminars. The students also participated in a retreat at the Agape Center in Fuquay-Varina and visited Washington, D.C. and the North Carolina Museum of Art. In addition, they sponsored a 10-year-old boy from El Salvador through contributions made to a church mission program.Maidon, who expects to expand the program to between 27 and 37 students next year, said the Teaching Fellows program has not only enriched Campbell students’ lives but has served as a great recruiting tool for the university. “We’ve already hosted over 400 middle school and high school students on campus this year for various activities, and we’re bringing in many more secondary education majors,” she said. Photo Copy: Campbell University’s North Carolina Teaching Fellows visit President John F. Kennedy’s grave at Arlington Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Front row, from left, Jessica Bryant, Nikki Crumley, Lauren Bajorek, Marissa Blake, Tara Simpson and Melissa Bickle. Second row, from left, Nicole Gallagher, Elizabeth Johnson, Justin Hill Drew Frink, Will Smith and Jacob Bartlett. Third row, Marcus Henderson.
Maidon reviews Campbell’s first class of Teaching Fellows