Senior selected for Conroy Center’s Future Educator Scholarship, named SC Teaching Fellow
From staff reports
Last week was a busy week for Battery Creek High School senior Darby Kinsey.
On Tuesday, May 2, the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center announced Kinsey has been selected as the inaugural recipient of the Center’s Future Educator Scholarship, a $5,000 award.
Then on Wednesday, May 3, the Beaufort County School District (BCSD) announced that Kinsey had been awarded the prestigious Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement (CERRA) South Carolina Teaching Fellowship.
“I have been preparing for this since I was four years old. I can remember setting up my “classroom” in my bedroom and creating my own curriculum for my baby dolls and stuffed animals – and now I finally get to do it for real,” Kinsey said in a (BCSD) news release. “I am so honored to receive this fellowship. I am excited about learning how to be the best teacher that I can be and bringing that knowledge back to the community that helped raise me.”
Kinsey, a member of Beaufort County’s teacher cadet program, is a dual enrollment student at the Technical College of the Lowcountry, Kinsey will earn her Associate’s Degree before she graduates from high school in June. She will continue her studies toward her Education degree at Charleston Southern University this fall.
A group of current and former educators served as the Conroy Center’s scholarship selection committee. They were unanimous and enthusiastic in their selection of Kinsey as the scholarship awardee.
Two of the committee members, both Beaufort County School District teacher mentors, offered glowing appraisals of Kinsey for public announcement.
“Darby is committed, goal-driven, and confident that she will succeed in her chosen career path. She is looking forward to a bright and successful teaching career, working for and with her students and contributing to their personal and educational growth,” said Celeste Prince-Brown, also a Beaufort High School student of Pat Conroy’s.
Joseph Taylor said, “The moment Darby sat down with the scholarship committee for her interview, she exuded confidence. She is a young woman who has known that she wanted to be a teacher since the age of four. Now, 14 years later, she is getting ready to receive her diploma from Battery Creek High School and also her Associate’s Degree from TCL. When you consider what she has achieved in the past four years while working and taking both high school and college courses, it’s really quite extraordinary. Future students and teaching colleagues will benefit from having Darby Kinsey in their lives. As a teacher at BCHS told me recently, ‘Darby is the real deal!’ I have no doubt about that.”
In addition to the cash award, Kinsey will be paired with a teaching mentor through the Conroy Center to serve as an additional resource for her through her degree program and her entrance into her teaching life.
As a member of the exceptional Teaching Fellows program at Charleston Southern, Kinsey will be offered numerous professional development opportunities and be involved with communities and businesses through various service projects and partnerships with local schools.
Kinsey holds this honor alongside fellow Beaufort County School District alum, Jada Jenkins, a Whale Branch Early College High School graduate who was named a 2022 S.C. Teaching Fellow.
The state’s Teaching Fellows Program, operated by CERRA, was established in 1999 by the S.C. General Assembly. The mission of the program is to recruit talented high school seniors into the teaching profession and help them develop leadership qualities.
Each year, the program provides Fellowships for up to 200 high school seniors who have exhibited high academic achievement, a history of service to their school and community, and a desire to teach in South Carolina.
Applicants for the program undergo a rigorous selection process that includes an online application, an interview and presentation in front of a team of three educators, and a scored response. Following the rigorous selection process, applicants who are awarded a Fellowship receive up to $24,000 in yearly scholarships (up to $6,000 a year for four years) to attend a Teaching Fellows Institution in South Carolina. Each Fellow agrees to teach in South Carolina one year for every year he or she receives the Fellowship.
