At first, Sarah Harris brushed off the opportunity.
I’m probably not even going to get the scholarship.
Even though she wanted to become a teacher, the then-senior at Firestone Community Learning Center didn’t think the financial blessing would come her way.
But Larry Johnson, a product of Akron Public Schools and a longtime administrator with the school district, didn’t curtail his recruiting efforts. He implored her to pursue the Harrington Scholarship through the University of Akron.
He recognized her talent. And the scholarship — essentially a full ride, covering four years of higher education at the University of Akron — was nothing to dismiss.
Four years later, Harris, now 22, is a new teacher preparing to step into her second grade classroom for the first time on Aug. 21 at Crouse Community Learning Center.
“I’m very excited to really embark on my teaching journey,” Harris told Signal Akron. “This has been a dream of mine to be in front of a classroom and help build those young minds.”
APS continues to encourage students who want to pursue a career in education to take advantage of a bevy of scholarship and grant opportunities — administrated largely by the state. Why? They want to retain homegrown teaching talent.
“The biggest advantage for us is the ability to be able to support our community in a lot of different ways,” said Johnson, the school district’s talent and organizational development administrator.
Harris attended Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts before arriving at Firestone, where she was a singer in its performance pathway. And now, she’ll take that experience under the stage lights to the front of the classroom.
“It’s definitely a huge blessing that doesn’t come very often,” Harris said.
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In Akron, four years of free tuition and teaching
That blessing comes with commitments.
Harris had to maintain a full-time course load and a minimum g.p.a. during school. Then, after graduation, she began her four-year commitment to teach in APS.
“I do have to be teaching here for a little while,” Harris said, “which I’m not mad at that at all. I love APS; it’s an amazing district.”
Johnson said fostering home-grown teaching talent helps the school district on multiple fronts. It’s helpful for students to learn from teachers who come from where they’re from and look like them. It also helps APS bolster its teaching ranks while grappling with an ongoing teacher shortage.
“The community is feeding the community,” Johnson said. “When you have community members entrenched in the schools … it’s an ecosystem that feeds on itself.”
Seven students are the latest recipients of APS’ Grow Your Own teacher scholarship
This journey toward a sustainable community of homegrown teachers has a few paths. One is for graduating high school seniors, such as Harris, who qualify for the Harrington Scholarship at the University of Akron.
Another is the Grow Your Own Teacher Scholarship program, maintained by the state. It helps paraprofessionals, who are essentially superpowered classroom aides, become full-time teachers.
The school district recently announced seven local recipients of the Grow Your Own Teacher scholarships. Students can receive up to $7,500 per year for four years. Similar to the Harrington Scholarship, recipients have to commit to teaching in APS for four years.
Here are the most recent APS recipients of the Grow Your Own Teacher scholarship:
- Breaon Brady
- Chelsie Young-Farina
- Justyce Carldwell
- Monica Speights
- Ryan Gearhart
- Tevin Tietje
- Tyrese Benson
“We are incredibly excited and proud to support these seven remarkable individuals who have chosen to pursue teaching careers and positively influence the next generation of Akron students,” Superintendent Mary Outley said in a press release.
Akron schools is also finalizing a partnership with Stark State College to create an initiative for paraprofessionals to return to school to earn degrees and teaching certificates.
To see the value homegrown talent brings to the district, Johnson said Akronites have to look no further than Outley, an APS graduate (Buchtel High School) longtime teacher and administrator and now, the school superintendent.
As Akron Board of Education President Carla Jackson said when Outley was appointed superintendent, she’s a true “daughter of the city.”