Invested in Learning: Graduate Student Aid Promotes Access

April 30, 2012

 

 

How can one teacher in one classroom in one school really make a difference? It's a question that Chelsea Fuller, GEd'12, came to Penn's Graduate School of Education to answer.

While pursuing both her master's degree and teaching certification in GSE's Teacher Education Program, Chelsea is learning how to make the standard 9th and 10th grade social studies curriculum more relevant to both AP and at-risk students at University City High School, where she is student-teaching. At the same time, Chelsea is identifying opportunities to help her students navigate some of the toughest aspects of their lives -- all too prevalent violence, mixed messages about identity and aspirations conveyed by the media, and the micro-level fall-out of being students in a school district in distress.

"So many kids from low-income communities are slipping through the cracks," says Chelsea, who became familiar with the public school systems in Inglewood and Watts as an undergraduate at UCLA. "I want to find ways to make higher education possible for those students."

The incremental change that Chelsea is making is helping her turn the tide for her current students and strengthening her ability to find solutions that can transform the system at the macro-level.

"Ultimately, I want to create a culture where everyone is expected to achieve, and where everyone believes they're worthy of a good education -- the teachers, the students, and the administration," Chelsea says of one of her highest aspirations. "Because if you have the right attitude, and you're truly invested in learning, that's when real change happens."

Graduate and professional students like Chelsea Fuller, GED'12, comprise half of the University's student population. They advance research and enhance campus life by serving as teaching-, resident-, and research-assistants. A top priority of the Making History Campaign, graduate student aid makes it possible for Penn to cultivate the next generation of scholars and thought leaders across the professions.

 

One Good Match Begets Another... and Another
Madlyn and Leonard Abramson's Match Inspires More Giving	GSE scholarships strengthen Penn's efforts to recruit and educate tomorrow's best teacher-leaders, counselors, principals, and education advocates. Increasing the impact of scholarship philanthropy is a recent gift of $1.5 million from Trustee Emerita and GSE Overseer, Madlyn Kornberg Abramson, Ed'57, GEd'60, and her husband, Leonard. The gift was matched by an additional $500,000 as part of the Men and Women of Pennsylvania scholarship challenge championed by Trustee and Campaign Chair, George Weiss, W'65, to create the GSE Scholarship Challenge Fund. In addition to the Abramson's philanthropic leadership in transforming research, treatment, and care at Penn Medicine, Madlyn is a stalwart supporter of GSE, where she discovered her passion for promoting literacy and teaching reading while earning her undergraduate degree in elementary education and her master's in reading and language arts.
Matt and Jen O'Malley Rise to the Scholarship Challenge	Matt O'Malley, GEd'95, and his wife, Jen, GEd'98, have been loyal donors since they graduated. Early on, they committed to inspiring participation by matching gifts of first-time donors to the GSE Annual Fund, the sole purpose of which is to provide scholarship support. Now, the GSE Scholarship Challenge is inspiring them to rise to a new level of giving. "The Challenge really struck a chord with us, and we decided to stretch our giving to make the match," says Matt of the funds added to the Mosi Foundation Endowed Scholarship that he and Jen established.

 

» more like this in Alumni | Scholarships | Students