Featured photo: 2023 Golden Apple Scholars Institute
Written by Tanya Terry
A scholarship program new to this area for aspiring teachers is expected to help with the severe teacher shortage, build the teacher pipeline and elevate the teaching profession in Michigan. For the first year ever, the Golden Apple Scholars Program has expanded to our state.
“We are facing a crisis here in Michigan, said Caycee Sledge, chief program officer for Golden Apple of Michigan.
Sledge added: “We have a lot of teachers that are going to be retiring soon. In the last couple of school years, we’ve actually had 1,800 unfilled teaching vacancies here in the state of Michigan. We’ve also seen a decline in enrollment into teacher education prep programs. Since 2008, we’ve had a decline of about 68% in that enrollment. This is concerning because it impacts our kids. It impacts our classrooms. When you don’t have highly qualified, certified teachers, districts have to rely on uncertified substitutes. It’s impacting subjects like math, science, special education and bilingual education. So, we see it as a real, all-hands-on-deck situation.”
The Golden Apple Scholars Program aims to help students who are excited about being educators get prepared and supported so they can enter classrooms.
The Golden Apple Scholar Program is recruiting students who are in their senior year of high school, or their freshman or sophomore year in college who are interested in being teachers. The program supports aspiring teachers throughout their undergrad teacher prep program by supplementing them with invaluable experiences.
During the school year, the scholars receive social-emotional support. Each summer, all the scholars from across the state also attend a Scholar Institute.
“We have them participate in summer school programs so they’re in the classroom teaching and getting that invaluable experience early on in their journey,” said Sledge. “They receive professional development from current teachers that are master teachers in the field. They are also able to build a community. So, they’re building that community – that network of support of scholars across the state. Those Scholar Institutes are paid, which is really a great benefit.”
Each summer, scholars receive a stipend to use at their discretion. The first one is for $2,000. This can be used for room and board, tuition, books or anything else that is needed by the scholar.
“For every Institute they attend after that, the stipend goes up $500. So, if they are in from a senior in high school to a senior in college, they can earn up to $15,000 for the Scholar Institutes in Michigan.”
Once scholars graduate, they receive support with resume building, mock interviews and job placement.
Golden Apple has been able to help 97% of its scholars in Illinois find employment within 90 days of graduation. More than half of these scholars are scholars of color.
Students in the program must commit to teach in a school of need for at least five years after graduating college. In the first 2-3 years at the school, they receive mentoring support as another key component of the program offered when teaching is expected to be hard. The scholars are paired with mentors who have experience with the age level they are teaching, the content area and the community in which the scholars are teaching.
After the five years at the school of need is completed, scholars’ commitment to the teaching profession is celebrated at a “Crystal Apple Ceremony,” along with the scholars’ families.
The Golden Apple Foundation started in the 1980s in Illinois when one of its founders, Mike Koldyke, was watching the Academy Awards. Koldyke asked his wife: “Why aren’t we celebrating teachers like this?” That question birthed the Golden Apple Awards, which celebrates teachers of excellence.
Sledge explained the first Golden Apple cohort of about 15 teachers felt like they wanted to do something more to help with the pipeline of the next generation of teachers.
“That’s where the Golden Apple Scholars Program came from,” said Sledge. “That started back in 1989.”
The program has been very successful, with over 400 scholars being inducted into it yearly.
In 2022, Golden Apple expanded to New Mexico, which has been struggling with a teacher shortage.
Golden Apple has been building the teacher pipeline in Illinois for more than 30 years.
Golden Apple is accepting applications for its scholar program in Michigan until April 1.
“We take a holistic approach to reviewing applications. We’re not looking for a certain GPA or a certain activity that was done. We’re looking for that passion for teaching. A lot of our scholars tell us how much their teachers impacted them, and they want to make that same difference for students.”
