In June 2011, the state legislature cut the Teaching Fellows program, which mean 500 high school seniors wouldn’t benefit the scholarship program anymore. 

Although the program was cut, it is being replaced by North Carolina Teacher Corps, which allows anyone who is a college graduate to apply and receive summer training and an alternative license; allowing the recipient to teach in an inner-city school.

“What bothers us is that you don’t have to be an education major,” Director of Teaching Fellows Jan Stanley said. “You can major in anything and say ‘Oh, I’ll go here for summer training and then become a teacher.’ So we don’t feel like it really replaces Teaching Fellows.”

Stanley said there has been a slight decrease for education majors this year.

Although freshmen for the 2012-13 school year are not receiving the scholarship, the sophomores and upperclassmen who already received the funding are still benefiting from it.

Stanley said that the program brought a lot of leaders to the education program and it really helped with recruitment for the Reich College of Education.

Although the new education program is trying to continue a lot of the things that were done when Teaching Fellows was funded, it cuts back on the number of students with education scholarships.

“When I see the kinds of people that receive the scholarship, I just feel like it really encourages some of the best folks to go into the field of education, and we need good teachers,” Stanley said.

Amber Chappell, a senior elementary education major and Teaching Fellow, said as a result of being a part of the program, she feels that she is going to be better prepared going into the classroom because she had more experience across the state.

“It was a great experience for me and I’m kind of sad that no one else gets to have that experience,” Chappell said.

Story: KATELYN BYNG, Intern News Reporter