Awards

Edwyna Wheadon Postgraduate Training Scholarship

 

2020 Scholarship Recipient

 

 

Carrie Mattern of Carman-Ainsworth High School in Flint, Michigan is the recipient of the 2021 NCTE Edwyna Wheadon Postgraduate Training Scholarship. The scholarship will help fund Carrie’s graduate studies to earn her Masters of English Education from the University of Michigan-Flint..

Carrie Mattern is first a reader, and then an author. First a student, and then a teacher. She teaches English grades 9 and 12 to young adults in Flint Township at Carman-Ainsworth High School. She is the devoted mother of a redhead, two towheads, and, finally, one brunette. She is a retired softball coach and a former collegiate pitcher for Saginaw Valley State University, where she earned her bachelor of arts degree, with a focus on ELA and a minor in psychology. In 2013, Mattern was named Saginaw Valley League Teacher of the Year. She blogs for education organizations such as #DisruptTexts, NCTE, #TeachLivingPoets, and The Education Trust Midwest. She was named CHOOSE Champion in 2019, leading her to work collaboratively alongside the nation’s top antiracist literacy educators. Mattern has written various books for children and young adults, as well as poetry and a play about the Flint water crisis. She has one class to go until finally completing her master’s degree at the University of Michigan-Flint. If she is not enjoying the outdoors with her kids or cooking without a recipe, you can find her compulsively tweeting while glued to the laptop watching anything Anthony Bourdain–related with her supportive, baby-faced husband. 

 

Award Details

Nomination Deadline:  January 31

Purpose:
To provide funding for professional development experiences for English/Language Arts teachers working in public educational institutions. The scholarship supports postgraduate training to enhance teaching skills and/or career development in teaching.

Eligibility:
Applicants are required to be teachers of English/Language Arts in a publicly funded institution. At the time of the award, the recipient must also be a member of NCTE.

Criteria:
Applicants must complete the Application Form (closed for 2021) and include a written statement of no more than 500 words indicating:

• The professional development experience for which you seek support and include specific details such as course titles, planned dates of study, fees, etc.
• Why you feel that you should be considered for this scholarship and how it will serve you in your career.

Scholarship Specifics:
A $500 scholarship is awarded once each year. On behalf of the recipient, scholarship payments are issued directly to any of the following: accredited, degree-granting public and private two-year junior and community colleges, four-year colleges and universities, and graduate and professional schools. Scholarship payments may be used toward degree or non-degree courses.

Applicants will be informed of the committee’s decision by March 15, so that the awardee can benefit from proposed activities during the following semester.

 

Edwyna Wheadon was a long-time member of NCTE and was active in the Houston Council of Teachers of English affiliate. During her lifetime, Ms. Wheadon established a scholarship program for teachers in the Houston area who desired to continue their professional development. Upon her passing in 2002, Ms. Wheadon’s family established the Edwyna Wheadon Postgraduate Training Scholarship Fund at NCTE to honor her enduring passion for supporting the career-long education of classroom teachers. The Scholarship Fund is a memorial to her vision, ideas, and work.

Questions about the scholarship can be emailed to NCTEAwards@ncte.org.