A minority teachers scholarship, funded by the Florida Fund for Minority Teachers, is now taking applications. If you qualify, you could get up to $4,000 per year towards your teaching education.
SPC grad receives minority teachers scholarship
A recipient of the minority teachers scholarship for two years, Michael Wiggs knows first hand how much of a difference the scholarship can make. A 2016 SPC College of Education graduate and former president of SPC’s International Honor Society in Education, Wiggs currently teaches 4th grade in Tampa’s Sulphur Springs K-8 Community School.
Wiggs is pictured above with Melissa Carroll, Therese Whitehurst and Courtney Baker, also members of Kappa Delta Pi and SPC education graduates.
An Elevate School, Sulpher Springs partners with the YMCA and Sulphur Springs Neighborhood of Promise where extracurricular activities and tutoring sessions are provided.
High needs schools like Sulpher Springs are ranked by unfilled, available teacher positions, and located where at least 30 percent of students come from families with incomes below the poverty line.
The Florida Fund for Minority Teacher (FFMT) Scholarship provided some financial relief for Wiggs. In addition, attending two FFMT Symposiums with classmates who also received the award allowed him to create a bond with the other students, an important link in his success. He was hired at one of the FFMT Symposiums and one of his classmates received multiple job offers. This opportunity allowed the students attending to network with other teachers in school districts throughout Florida.
To be successful, teachers must have an out of the box teaching strategy and tools to reach their students. Wiggs’ training at St. Petersburg College introduced him to what classroom management tools he would need to be successful in his 4th grade class.
One of his favorite instructors at St. Petersburg College was Dr. Nancy Watkins. In her Classroom Management course, she read one of his favorite quotes by Haim G. Ginott:
“I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.”
He approaches each day in his class with this quote in mind. The demands of teaching in high-needs schools can be intimidating. It requires passion, dedication and perseverance. The FFMT Symposiums gave Wiggs the opportunity to work in a school where he will make a difference.
Wiggs found his experience at St. Petersburg College to be amazing and thought the faculty and staff were phenomenal! The Florida Fund for Minority Teachers scholarship was an additional bonus to lessen his financial burden at college.
The priority deadline for this minority teachers scholarship is August 1 for this fall. Contact Sherri Kent-Roberts at Kentroberts.sherri@spcollege.edu or 727-341-4659 for more information or visit their website to learn more about the Minority Teachers Scholarship.