Seniors Eduardo Ajuech-Agreda and Tessa Coy have been awarded the Teaching Fellows Scholarship for their outstanding performance in the Teacher Cadets Program.
The scholarship provides each with $24,000 towards their college funding.
The Teacher Cadet’s course is offered to Socastee seniors who want to dive deeper into the education field. It is headed by Ms. Zeneta Carr.
“The whole purpose of [the program] is to allow students to explore education as a career,” Ms. Carr said. “We do lesson-planning, you get to spend a day with a teacher, so you know exactly what teachers go through for their entire school day. It opens their eyes to the profession.”
Tessa Coy, who is pursuing the field of Music Education, plans to put her scholarship towards Coastal Carolina University’s Music Education (K-12) Program.
She said Teacher Cadet opened up several opportunities for her. As part of the class, she interns each day as a teacher intern at Lakewood Elementary.
“Being a Bobcat for this semester taught me that kids are very bright from a very young age,” she said. “Being able to guide younger minds in education is one of the biggest blessings in my educational journey.”
Eduardo Ajuech-Agreda, who is pursuing a major in History, received his teaching scholarship for the College of Charleston. He declined it because he is on the waitlist for the same scholarship from the University of South Carolina, where he plans to attend.
He is appreciative of the Teacher Cadet scholarship.
“Getting the scholarship was amazing,” he said. “It will allow me to be with an even better group of people who have the same goals as me, who want to become educators.”
The Teacher Cadet program is open to any senior, whether they are pursuing a field in education or not. Ms. Carr encourages every student to try out the program.
“I think all students should be a part of Teacher Cadets,” she said. “It opens up your eyes to what all is entailed in education so you can be more knowledgeable parents and supporters of public education.”
