Marshall Magazine Autumn 2022

maier foundation scholarship

Scholarship Opens Myriad Opportunities for Four Future Teachers

By Taylor Stuck

S cotland doesn’t look too different fromWest Virginia. There are the rolling green hills. There are lush trees and forests. But there are also the lochs and the 18th-century castles, and instead of Marco, there are highland cows. Four future educators from Cabell and Putnam coun ties spent their summer transplanted in Stirling, Scotland, an opportunity they likely would not have had if not for the Maier Foundation. Kirsten Hill, Dylan Collier, Caroline Kinder and Bailey Arkell are the recipients of the inaugural Maier Foundation STEM Educators’ Scholarship. The scholarship includes roughly $15,000 annually for tuition, housing and other costs; a stipend of $1,500 for a laptop; and funding for a study abroad or student exchange experience and was renewable for three additional years The goal of the scholarship is to increase the number of highly qualified science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) middle and high school teachers in West Virginia. Arkell and Kinder are studying math education while Hill and Colliers are in chemistry education. The group spent a month attending Stirling University, roaming the Scottish Highlands and mingling with local and other international students. It’s an experience they all say they likely would not have had if not for the Maier scholarship. “I don’t always like to go out of my comfort zone, and if you can’t tell by me staying home for college, I don’t always like to go very far from home,” said Barboursville native and current Miss Marshall, Caroline Kinder. “So, it may have been something that crossed my mind, but probably not something I would have fully pursued just based on finances and confidence. I had a great support system from all the people helping me go.” The students had support back home before the trip from the College of Education and Professional

Development and support in Scotland from their pro fessor. They took one course while on their trip, which included a tour of an elementary school and a high school. “Our professor was fantastic,” St. Albans resident Hill said. “She was so nice. And she was so helpful. Anything we needed, anyone there would help us. The people who worked at the high school that we visited … were all super welcoming and were just ready to give us any information that we needed.” Even the residents of Stirling were welcoming. In searching for a piece of home, Kinder and Arkell found a Baptist church and attended one Sunday. A family at the church invited them for dinner at their home. While there are similarities between West Virginia and Scotland, there are many things that are different. In the schools they toured, they learned the importance of physical and mental health in Scottish schools. “Learning about how they incorporate mental health standards and physical health standards into their cur riculum was really a breath of fresh air and made me want to rearrange how I would teach here to kind of prioritize those things in my own classroom if they aren’t prioritized on a large scale,” Kinder said. For Hill, she misses the ease of public transportation. “I loved being able to hop on a bus and go,” she said. “I hated when I got back and remembered I had to drive my car everywhere.” Arkell’s favorite memories of the trip were when they were able to relax and enjoy their experiences. They trav eled to North Berwick, a seaside town with golden beaches and unique rock formations. “It was really nice and peaceful,” she said. “There were little shops down this little street and lots of bakeries and coffee shops, things like that. Oh, man, it was just one of the nicest travel experiences where you could enjoy being there and not have to worry about the crowds or having to do something. We were just able to explore.”

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