DuPage students inducted into Golden Apple program
Eighteen students from DuPage County recently were inducted into the 2017 class of Golden Apple Scholars - a group of 234 aspiring teachers who have dedicated themselves to teaching in an Illinois school-of-need for five years after graduation.
The Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois is a scholarship program that identifies talented high school seniors and first- and second-year college students who have the promise and drive to be excellent teachers in high-need schools.
The DuPage County Golden Scholars are:
Alexa Menolascino, York High School, Elmhurst
Andrea Du, Naperville North High School, Naperville
Andrea Erazo, West Aurora High School, Aurora
Arturo Alfaro, Fenton High School, Bensenville
Breanna Graf, Glenbard South High School, Glen Ellyn
Chelsea Lenart, Bartlett High School, Bartlett
Halley Fogerty, Wheaton North High School, Wheaton
Hunter Sparks, Willowbrook High School, Villa Park
Jeremy Sechan, Addison Trail High School, Addison
John Dugan, Glenbard West High School, Glen Ellyn
Kaitlin E. Collins, Lake Park High School, Itasca
Maria Perez, York High School, Elmhurst
Maya Ross, Naperville North High School, Naperville
Molly Hill, Willowbrook High School, Villa Park
Noor Maghrebi, Glenbard North High School, Glendale Heights
Raelyn Erwin, Naperville Central High School, Naperville
Simran Gogana, York Community High School, Elmhurst
Stephanie Thomas, Metea Valley High School, Naperville
Since its inception in 1989, the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois program has grown to nearly 2,000 statewide participants. The program is designed to prepare future teachers to thrive in the most challenging high-needs school environments where more resilient teachers are desperately needed.
The program provides tuition assistance to each future teacher while they pursue an undergraduate education. Beginning the summer after high school graduation and continuing throughout their undergraduate years, scholars benefit from multiple teaching internships, ongoing academic and career mentoring and course work on the art of teaching delivered by Golden Apple Award-winning teachers.
Golden Apple continues to support scholars after they begin their teaching careers through ongoing mentoring and professional development. In return for the financial, academic and professional development support that Golden Apple provides, scholars agree to teach in a school-of-need in Illinois for five years following college graduation.
The scholars program has been proven to profoundly improve persistence and graduation rates among participants.
In addition, the program has been shown to have a significant impact on workforce development by helping low-income and underrepresented students gain necessary skill development for a lasting career in teaching.
The 2017 class of scholars represents a diverse group of young people from across the state of Illinois with nearly half as first-generation college students, who are the first in the families to attend a four-year college, and nearly half are from underrepresented groups.