RELEASE DATE: March 7, 2007
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GlaxoSmithKline Scholarship recipients meet to celebrate first semester of community college success
RALEIGH - Brian Albrecht had a dream, but he thought it could never come true. Thanks to a scholarship funded by the North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation, he is working his way towards becoming an elementary school teacher.
The NC GlaxoSmithKline Foundation provided a $1,000,000 challenge grant to the North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation to establish scholarships for community college students desiring to become school teachers. The North Carolina General Assembly provided $1,000,000 in matching funds.
Scholarship recipients receive up to $5,000 in support per year. Albrecht is among the first group to receive the assistance and they have completed their first semester after being selected.
“Each child that passes through your classroom takes something away for use later in life,” says Albrecht. He says he wants to give students that strong education foundation that will carry them on to greater things.
Albrecht and seven other community college students will have a chance to thank a legislator and a GSK Foundation member for their support at a dinner at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel. The dinner begins at 5:30 on Friday, March 9.
Rep. Joe Tolson of Edgecombe County and Dr. Charles Sanders of the NC GSK Foundation will attend the dinner for the GSK Teaching Scholars. They will have a chance to hear first-hand what the financial support means to the students and why they want to teach in the public schools.
Albrecht is pursuing an associate degree at Guilford Technical Community College. After graduation this May, he continues work towards his baccalaureate in Elementary Education at Winston-Salem State University, but will take his classes at GTCC.
"The community college role in training teachers has already begun," says Community College System President Martin Lancaster. "This financial assistance enhances our participation in meeting the crisis of a shortage of teachers. We have found and are educating local residents that will make good teachers and who are also dedicated to the community and will stay there and teach."
One of the most important factors in the selection of the recipients was their desire to become a certified teacher and to remain in their local community. Recipients will be expected to remain in their community for a minimum of five years after certification or repay the assistance received according to a schedule prorated on years of service.
Wendi Gentry, a student at Piedmont Community College in Roxboro, is another GSK Teaching Scholar. She has ten years of experience as a preschool director and teacher, but she wants her teaching credentials.
“The greatest gift we can give a child is a great education foundation,” says Gentry. She says students need to know that their teachers “will always care, even when they make a mistake.”
Gentry will pursue her baccalaureate degree at North Carolina Central University, but through Piedmont CC. She is scheduled to graduate from Piedmont in May.
Partnerships between community colleges and several campuses of the University of North Carolina and private colleges enable prospective teachers in several areas of the state to have the chance to earn associates degrees and complete baccalaureate degrees needed for teacher certification on their local community college campuses. Many of these individuals would otherwise be unable to travel to a four-year institution to pursue their education. These programs combine the best of classroom instruction and distance learning. While not yet available at every community college, the number of programs is growing.
GlaxoSmithKline, one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and health care companies, is committed to fighting disease by bringing innovative medicines and services to patients and to the health care providers who serve them. US headquarters are in Philadelphia, PA, and Research Triangle Park, NC.
The North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation supports activities in North Carolina that help meet the educational and health needs of today’s society and future generations. The Foundation focuses on programs that emphasize the understanding and application of health, science, and education at all academic and professional levels.
The North Carolina Community College System is one of the largest community college systems in the country. The mission of the System is to open the door to high-quality, accessible educational opportunities that minimize barriers to postsecondary education, maximize student success, and improve the lives and well-being of individuals through education, training and retraining for the workforce.
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