Three educators from Orange County will embark on an education fellowship after recently being selected by a statewide program.
The Kenan Fellows Program for Teacher Leadership at N.C. State University announced on May 7 its selection of 38 educators in public K-12 systems across North Carolina, with Erin Lisi of Phillips Middle School, Savannah Patterson of Cedar Ridge High School and Kumar Sathy with the Orange County Schools administration each earning a fellowship. The initiative was started as a way to improve retention of math and science teachers around the Research Triangle and to improve workforce development partnerships with many of North Carolina’s school districts.
Through the program, the 38 educators will take three weeks this summer to do an immersive program with individual local experts in different STEM fields, and will get 80 hours of professional development focusing on innovative teaching methods, leadership skills, and building connections between the teachers’ schools and their surrounding communities. The fellowship will also reward each educator a $5,000 stipend.
Lisi, who is the lone Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools educator in this year’s class, will work with Amy Maddox — who researches cell biology through the UNC School of Medicine.
“I am so excited to have been chosen as a Kenan Fellow for this year,” Lisi told Chapelboro. “The Fellowship this summer with Dr. Amy Maddox at UNC will allow me to dig into my love for bringing real world science research to middle schoolers in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. I am honored to have been supported by North Carolina multiple times in my journey as an educator so far, and I look forward to how this summer experience will change my teaching journey to better serve students.”
Patterson will also have a science focus to her fellowship, studying genetics with Fred Gould, the executive director of the Genetics and Genomics Academy at N.C. State. The high school teacher said it is an honor to have been chosen as a Kenan Fellow.
“It already feels so rewarding to start this journey with other educators,” added Patterson. “I am looking forward to working with Dr. Gould and his team in the Genetics and Genomics Department at NCSU alongside another Kenan Science Fellow this summer. I think I’m most excited to be in community with more educators across the state and hear about their experiences and fellowships. I’m also looking forward to incorporating my experiences into my classroom next school year and sharing what I’ve learned with my colleagues!”
Sathy, meanwhile, will use his fellowship to better prepare educators before they reach the classrooms. The Orange County Schools employee will train with a pair of N.C. State teaching fellows on ways to provide perspective and support to pre-service teachers.
“The Kenan Fellows Program genuinely values and elevates educators as professionals,” Sathy said. “It is not only an honor to receive this fellowship, it is a calling. It is a call to use the network, training, and platform to shape the next generation of leaders and innovators. At a time when funding and support for educators has become an increasingly polarized topic, I am grateful to join a movement that is unwavering in its core belief that teachers play a vital role in shaping the future, and are indeed worthy of investment. I look forward to the opportunity to develop professional development for pre-service STEM and Special Education teachers with a strategic focus on highly effective instruction, classroom culture, inclusion, and belonging.”
The full 2024-25 class of Kenan Fellows and their mentorship partners can be found on the program’s website.
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