Eight Alamance County students have been selected to receive merit-based scholarships of up to $10,000 through the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program for the upcoming 2026-27 academic year, the University of North Carolina System Office has announced.
The goal of the program is to help replenish the state’s supply of K-12 public school teachers, according to the N.C. Teaching Fellows Commission.
A recent “workforce alignment” study for the UNC System, released in mid-April, showed that the state has a “supply gap” of 1,800 education degrees annually, due to population growth increasing demand for teachers, retirement of teachers, and waning interest in education degree programs.
Recipients are eligible for up to $10,000 per academic year to cover tuition, books, and fees at any one of 10 N.C. Teaching Fellows “partner institutions.” Students must commit to teaching elementary education, special education, science, technology, engineering, or math at a North Carolina public school following completion of their college education and teacher licensure program.
The students from Alamance County selected for the N.C. Teaching Fellows program are:
Peyton Alcon of Elon; Victoria Dalehite of Mebane; Katelyn Hamilton of Graham; Ella Layne of Elon;
Kiya Kernodle of Graham; Linda Mostafa of Mebane; Samantha Norwood of Graham; and James Parker of Mebane.
A senior at Southern High School, Kernodle volunteers with the SAFE Alamance food pantry based in Graham and began raising money in December 2023, through Kiya’s Cupcake Fundraiser, to keep the food pantry stocked, according to a volunteer spotlight that SAFE posted on its website last fall.
Three students on opposite sides of the Alamance County line – Alaina Aharon of Efland, in western Orange County, as well as Abby Belcher of McLeansville and Brooklyn Newman of Whitsett, in eastern Guilford County – are also among the 522 future teachers who have committed to participate in the state-funded N.C. Teaching Fellows program during the upcoming academic year.
Technically considered loans, recipients can have the debt “forgiven” by teaching one year in exchange for each year the award is received.
Applicants must be: a high school senior able to use the award for up to eight semesters with a minimum high school Grade Point Average of 3.0; a student already enrolled at one of 10 N.C. Teaching Fellows institutions; or a student pursuing an undergraduate degree for subsequent teaching licensure.
The 10 N.C. colleges and universities that offer the N.C. Teaching Fellows program include: Appalachian State University; East Carolina University; Elon University; Fayetteville State; Meredith College; N.C. State; N.C. A&T State University; UNC-Chapel Hill; UNC-Charlotte; and UNC-Pembroke.
Applications for the program are approved by the N.C. Teaching Fellows Commission, which is comprised of: four university deans, a community college president, a local school board member, a principal, a community college president, a beginning teacher, and other academic and business/industry representatives, as well as the state Teacher of the Year and N.C. Superintendent of the Year, who serve as nonvoting members.
