N.C. Teaching Fellows award recipients include 3 from Richmond County

ROCKINGHAM — Two more Richmond County students have been accepted into the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program.

The N.C. Teaching Fellows Commission announced Thursday that Carissa Byrne and Katherine Wright, both of Rockingham, are among 462 award recipients from across the state selected for the 2024-25 academic year.

Samantha Caulder, also of Rockingham, was announced as one of the first 130 awardees last December. Click here to read that press release.

According to a press release, this is the highest number of award recipients since the program started back in 2017 and a 250% increase from the previous year.

The program provides up to $10,000 of tuition assistance each year for those who are committed to teaching in the state’s public schools.

There are 10 colleges in North Carolina that participate in the Teaching Fellows Program: Appalachian State University; East Carolina University, Elon University; Fayetteville State University; North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University; North Carolina State University; Meredith College; University of North Carolina at Charlotte; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

“We are excited about the tremendous growth and interest in the Teaching Fellows program, which has expanded to include educator preparation programs at Appalachian State University and East Carolina University, and now also serves future teachers in elementary education fields,” Dr. Bennett Jones, director of the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program, said in a press release. “We are grateful for the support of lawmakers and education policy leaders as we continue to recruit, train, prepare and place high-quality teachers across the state.”