A total of 14 top-quality teacher candidates who are part of the 2013 Woodrow Wilson Ohio Teaching Fellows will attend The University of Toledo to prepare to teach math and science in high-need schools in the state.
The Fellows were announced recently at an event at the Ohio Statehouse hosted by the Ohio Board of Regents, the Ohio Department of Education and the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.
The Woodrow Wilson Ohio Teaching Fellowship recruits accomplished career changers and outstanding recent college graduates in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (the STEMM fields). The 2013 Fellows are the third class of new teacher candidates to be prepared through the program since the Fellowship was launched in Ohio in 2010.
“These students represent the best and brightest teachers in Ohio, and are reflective of the advances that Ohio is making in the STEMM fields,” Board of Regents Chancellor John Carey said. “Their efforts as Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellows will impact not only their own futures, but also the futures of thousands of students in our high-need schools.”
The Fellows who will attend UT are:
• Kimberly Abbas, Maumee, a 1991 graduate of Dominican University (Rosary College) with a degree in nutrition and dietetics.
• Robert Abramoff, Shaker Heights, a 2012 graduate of Ohio State University with a degree in environmental science.
• Noah Bleckner, Sylvania, a 2013 graduate of UT with a degree in independent studies and mathematics.
• Corbin Brangham, Perrysburg, a 2009 graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University with a degree in chemistry.
• Patrick Cassity, Perrysburg, a 1987 graduate of Marietta College with a degree in mathematics and a 2002 graduate of University of Findlay with a master of business administration degree.
• Zachary Dietrich, Defiance, a 2013 graduate of UT with a degree in mathematics.
• Mary Kreuz, Swanton, a 2011 graduate of the University of Michigan with a degree in biomedical engineering.
• Shelby McElroy, Aurora, a 2013 graduate of UT with a degree in mathematics.
• Samuel Östling, Toledo, a 2009 graduate of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology with a degree in mathematics and a 2011 graduate of UT with a master of science degree in mathematics.
• Alicia Schifferly, Perrysburg, a 2011 graduate of Miami University with a degree in zoology.
• Rafael Soler, Lancaster, a 2013 graduate of UT with a degree in pharmacy.
• Adam Thieroff, Toledo, a 2007 graduate of Bowling Green State University with a degree in environmental science.
• Christopher Wojciechowski, Toledo, a 2009 graduate of UT with a degree in history.
• Tyra Woodruff, North Baltimore, a 2012 graduate of Western Illinois University with a degree in meteorology.
Each Fellow will receive a $30,000 stipend while completing an intensive master’s level teacher education program at one of seven participating Ohio universities. These institutions have redesigned teacher preparation to give teacher candidates a full year of preparation in local classrooms, as well as specific teaching approaches for the STEMM fields.
The Fellows at UT are part of the Licensure and Master’s Program in which participants earn a master’s degree in education and become licensed as middle childhood or adolescent and young adult teachers.
In addition to The University of Toledo, the institutions at which the Fellows enroll are John Carroll University, Ohio State University, Ohio University, the University of Akron, the University of Cincinnati and the University of Dayton.
Since the program’s inception in 2010, 219 Fellows have been named in Ohio. After their preparation, Fellows commit to teach for at least three years in a high-need Ohio school, with ongoing support and mentoring.
A rigorous yearlong application and selection process was administered by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation of Princeton, N.J. This year’s class includes 77 new Woodrow Wilson Ohio Teaching Fellows, 71 of whom will start their Fellowships this summer. These new Fellows will be ready to enter their own classrooms in fall 2014.
“These Fellows in Ohio, and our partner institutions, are providing national models of how to meet a critical need in education: getting strong math and science teachers into high-need schools,” said Arthur Levine, president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. “This year’s Fellows are amazing people — deeply committed to young people and accomplished in their fields. They are going to make us all proud, and they will change countless lives.”
