RALEIGH, N.C. – The SECU Foundation, the charitable arm of State Employees Credit Union, and Appalachian State University (ASU) have agreed to create the SECU Appalachian Partnership, which includes a $1.76-million grant from the Foundation in support of the teacher scholarship program over a seven-year period.
SECU Foundation Board Chair McKinley Wooten presented the check to ASU Chancellor Sheri Everts on behalf of SECU members who fund the SECU Foundation.
Modeled after the successful SECU Partnership East program at East Carolina University, the SECU Appalachian Partnership program is intended to build upon existing programs that support college access, transfers from two-year to four-year programs, and that recruit for teacher education, all with a goal for graduates to teach in their local communities, according to the SECU Foundation.
Eligible students will graduate with a four-year teaching degree from Appalachian State University’s Reich College of Education by completing the first two years of coursework at regional community colleges then transferring into an elementary education, middle grades education or special education program for coursework at one of ten North Carolina community colleges through ASU’s partnering program, The Appalachian Learning Alliance.
The SECU Appalachian Partnership will focus on administering the teacher program in Caldwell, Burke, Catawba, Wilkes and Mitchell counties, with scholarship funding assisting college students in their junior and senior years of coursework study, internship and student teaching.