Listen to this article
MONTICELLO â The Indiana Commission for Higher Education has awarded 200 scholarships to the fifth class of Next Generation Hoosier Educators.
And three of them attend Twin Lakes High School.
Selected through a competitive process based on academic achievement and other factors, Grace Fry, Taylor Hodgen and Jenna Swaim will each receive $7,500 annually (up to $30,000 total) for committing to teach in Indiana for at least five years after graduating college.
âHard work, passion and academic excellence are just a few characteristics of these future teachers,â said Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education Teresa Lubbers. âWe are pleased to award them with a scholarship as they pursue their teaching credentials that will ultimately benefit their students and the state.â
INDIANAPOLIS â The Indiana Commission for Higher Education said Wednesday it has awarded 200 scholarships to the fifth class of Next Generation Hoosier Educators.
Recipients from DeKalb County are Penelope Swift of DeKalb High School and Jacob Thompson of Eastside Junior-Senior High School.
Selected through a competitive process based on academic achievement and other factors, each recipient will receive $7,500 annually, and up to $30,000 total over four years, for committing to teach in Indiana for at least five years after graduating from college.
âHard work, passion and academic excellence are just a few characteristics of these future teachers,â said Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education Teresa Lubbers. âWe are pleased to award them with a scholarship as they pursue their teaching credentials that will ultimately benefit their students and the state.â
Courtesy of College Goal Sunday Indiana
In a typical year, Indianapolis school counselor Karen Matthews spends lunch breaks bribing high school seniors with free baked potatoes or nachos to come to her office and fill out college financial aid forms.
Matthews, who works at Beech Grove High School, said these “working lunches” have been her most successful tactic for encouraging completion of the federal aid application, which intimidates many of her students. The form requires answering over 100 questions and providing multiple records, including Social Security numbers, tax returns, and records of untaxed income.
“If we can just get them started, they realize it’s not that bad and they’ll usually finish it,” Matthews said.
Editorial
Trend poses challenge for Hoosiers future
What s next? For an increasing number of graduating Hoosier high school students, the answer apparently isn t college.
It s a troubling trend highlighted in a recent report that should be eye-opening for state policymakers, Indiana schools, employers and students themselves.
The Indiana College Readiness Report, an annual publication of the state s Commission for Higher Education, shows the number of college-bound seniors at its lowest rate in about a decade. Only 59% of 2019 graduates enrolled in college after graduation, according to the report published in late April, down from 61% the year before.
The numbers are singularly sobering, but they re worse when coupled with knowledge that the data precede the COVID-19 pandemic – a crisis the commission says exacerbated problems facing higher education in Indiana, including college-going rates and people questioning the importance of a college degree.
Carol D Amico
Contributor
Carol D Amico is executive vice president for national engagement and philanthropy at USA Funds, a nonprofit corporation that works to enhance preparation for, access to and success in postsecondary education. Previously, she served in the U.S. Department of Education as assistant secretary for adult and vocational education; as a senior fellow and co-director of the Hudson Institute s Center for Workforce Development; as executive vice president and chancellor of Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana; and as president and chief executive officer of Conexus Indiana, a manufacturing and logistics initiative.
D Amico has chaired and served on several national- and state-level boards, including a multi-term appointment by President George W. Bush to the Institute for Education Sciences and appointments to the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity and the National Assessment Governing Board. She serves on The U.S. Conference of Ma