High school students Addie Riche, Emily Cousins and Tela Dykes have been announced as the first recipients of a new scholarship program for Vermonters seeking to become early-childhood educators.
Riche is a senior at the Patricia Hannaford Career Center and Middlebury Union High School; Cousino is enrolled at the Hannaford Center and Mount Abraham Union Middle and High School in Bristol; and Dykes attends Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester.
The Curtis Fund Commitment pilot program will provide scholarships to cover the students' full cost of attendance — tuition, fees, housing, food and transportation — at the Community College of Vermont. The students will also receive guidance from professionals at the Vermont Association for the Education of Young Children as they make their postsecondary education and career decisions.
“The high cost of educating early-childhood educators and the low wages they earn upon graduation is a significant deterrent for students interested in entering the profession,” said Shana Trombley, executive director of The Curtis Fund. “This is why The Curtis Fund is providing comprehensive scholarships to help students earn the education they need to launch their careers as early-childhood educators debt-free.”
Child care certificate graduates must complete a 24-hour credit program and obtain one year of classroom experience to qualify as a teacher associate. According to Let’s Grow Kids, another supporting organization of the Community Foundation, teacher associates could fill an estimated 1,600 of the 2,090 openings for early-childhood educators in Vermont.