Overview
Download the Teaching Fellows One-pager
The SC General Assembly began funding the South Carolina Teaching Fellows Program in 1999. The mission of the Program is to recruit talented high school seniors into the teaching profession and help them develop leadership qualities. Each year, the program provides Fellowships for up to 200 high school seniors who have exhibited high academic achievement, a history of service to their school and community and/or have work experience, and also possess a desire to teach in South Carolina.
Teaching Fellows participate in advanced enrichment programs at Teaching Fellows Institutions, have additional professional development opportunities, and are involved with communities and businesses throughout the state. They receive up to $24,000 in fellowship funds (up to $6000 a year for four years) while they complete a degree leading to initial teacher certification. The fellowship provides up to $5700 for tuition and direct education expenses (including room and board) and $300 for specific enrichment programs administered by CERRA. All Teaching Fellows awards are contingent upon funding from the SC General Assembly. Fellows agree to teach in a South Carolina public school one year for every year they receive the Fellowship.
Read a comprehensive research report about the South Carolina Teaching Fellows Program.
Teaching Fellows participate in advanced enrichment programs at Teaching Fellows Institutions, have additional professional development opportunities, and are involved with communities and businesses throughout the state. They receive up to $24,000 in fellowship funds (up to $6000 a year for four years) while they complete a degree leading to initial teacher certification. The fellowship provides up to $5700 for tuition and direct education expenses (including room and board) and $300 for specific enrichment programs administered by CERRA. All Teaching Fellows awards are contingent upon funding from the SC General Assembly. Fellows agree to teach in a South Carolina public school one year for every year they receive the Fellowship.
Read a comprehensive research report about the South Carolina Teaching Fellows Program.
Teaching Fellows Make Great Hires
This Program not only recruits the best of the best, it prepares these future teachers to positively impact education in South Carolina. Teaching Fellows have agreed to teach in a South Carolina public school one year for every year they have accepted the fellowship funds. Most Teaching Fellows are therefore indebted for four years of service to the state. Current data show that 73% of Teaching Fellows graduates who have taught for the required number of years to satisfy their loan through service are still employed in districts across the state. This retention rate is remarkable when compared to the attrition rate among teachers in the first five years of their career. Several studies have found that as many as 50% of new teachers leave within the first five years of entry into the profession (Smith & Ingersoll, 2004). Teaching Fellows participate in advanced professional development from their first year in the Program. The professional development opportunities offered to Teaching Fellows address respect for diversity, leadership, advocacy, and the use of innovative and effective teaching practices. The Teaching Fellows Program helps prepare these novice teachers to lead from the beginning of their careers.
Teaching Fellows Staff
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- I was blessed to be a part of the Teaching Fellows Program. We were a close group which helped us build community and a family atmosphere that we could create in our own classrooms. We attended workshops and were given numerous opportunities to serve and lead. I believe being a Teaching Fellow better prepared me for my career in education, and I'm thankful I am a Teaching Fellows graduate!
Robin Bracken
Class of 2005 Cohort
Class of 2005 Cohort
Fifth Grade Teacher / Calhoun Academy of the Arts - Anderson Five
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Being a Columbia College Teaching Fellow has given me the experience, tools and confidence that I needed to become an effective leader in the classroom.The size of our Columbia College cohort makes it ideal to establish meaningful bonds among our full Teaching Fellows Cohort. Being a Teaching Fellow allowed me to participate in travel, leadership and recreational experiences that have helped to shape me into the educational leader that I am today.
Kirsten Baker
Class of 2016 Cohort
Class of 2016 Cohort
Social Studies & Science Teacher / Blythewood Middle School
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I realize now more than ever how important and beneficial being a Teaching Fellow at Newberry College has been to my teaching career and my own future students. Today I teach in a classroom where it is my dream and goal to inspire my students to have a role in their own learning, while also helping prepare them for their future roles in the world around them. But, before all of that, I chose to attend Newberry College and I earned a scholarship as a South Carolina Teaching Fellow. I hope that many more future teachers are also given this opportunity just like I was, and that they begin their own journeys to become phenomenal educators in our great state of South Carolina!
Paige Starnes
Class of 2009 Cohort
Class of 2009 Cohort
4th Grade Teacher, English Language Arts and Social Studies / Little Mountain Elementary, Newberry
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The Teaching Fellows program has been instrumental in developing me as a future educator through hosting professional developments, giving me an array of role models, and offering so many other opportunities to which I would not otherwise have had access, especially the supportive community. In short, being a Teaching Fellow has blessed me in more ways than I know, and I am extremely grateful to be a part of this program.
Alaina Rink
Class of 2017 Cohort
Class of 2017 Cohort
Science Teacher / West Ashley High School
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"Teaching Fellows is an incredible program that has had a tremendous impact on my life. Through professional development, classroom opportunities, support, and advisement; Teaching Fellows has helped me grow into an advocate for education, who is fully prepared to enter a long and fulfilling career. I am grateful to be a part of a community that will help impact education in amazing ways.”
Luke Harris
Class of 2016 Cohort
Class of 2016 Cohort
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“The experiences and opportunities I had through Teaching Fellows are some of my best memories from college. I continue to use what I learned through the Teaching Fellows Program’s diverse volunteer sites, monthly professional development, and a community of professionals that are passionate about the bright future of public education in South Carolina.”
Tory Pennington
Class of 2010 Cohort
Class of 2010 Cohort
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"I was thrilled to be a Teaching Fellow at Anderson University! I view the Teaching Fellows Program as high quality, intensive professional development for the pre-service classroom teacher. Reflecting upon my time in the Program, I realize that I made many connections, walked through numerous doors of opportunity, and evolved into a professional teacher because of my experience as a Teaching Fellow. I could not picture my time in college without being a member of my cohort! It has truly impacted my life and has helped me grow into the teacher that I am today!"
Bradley Brazell
Class of 2013 Cohort
Class of 2013 Cohort
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