Emory & Henry partners with local Virginia schools for ‘Grow Your Own’ grants

EMORY, Va. (WJHL) — High school students and school employees in Southwest Virginia will now have the ability to make their way to the Emory & Henry College education department thanks to two new grants from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE).

Both grants are part of a new Grow Your Own program, a model that looks to place more teachers in the classrooms.

The first grant focuses on paraprofessionals and employees in school systems looking to earn their education degrees, financially sponsored by VDOE.

“The Virginia Department of Education put out a grant process for how we can better equip paraprofessionals in the classrooms,” said Dr. Matt Frederick, vice president of admissions at Emory & Henry. “Teacher’s aids, classroom assistants that may already have their associate degree on how we can help them complete their undergraduate degree in teacher education.”

Missing Virginia Tech student was bound for Abingdon, university says

The school systems included in the partnership are:

• Smyth County Public Schools

• Bland County Public Schools

• Bristol Virginia Public Schools

• Carroll County Public Schools

• Galax City Public Schools

• Grayson County Public Schools

• Washington County Public Schools

• Wythe County Public Schools

Each school system has five spots for paraprofessionals, equaling 40 total to be able to go back and finish their degree.

Dr. Dennis Carter, superintendent for Smyth County Public Schools, was part of the planning process for the grant partnership. He said the way they are looking to make earning an education degree easier for the grant recipients.

“It’s a way for our folks that are truly interested in education that may have difficulty through financial means or availability of coursework to go back and get that degree free of charge,” said Carter.

Recipients would be able to work during the day, and then attend online courses in the afternoon through Emory & Henry College.

Both Frederick and Carter said the grants are aimed at addressing a teacher shortage in Southwest Virginia. Bristol Virginia Public Schools Superintendent Dr. David Scott said the shortage hit his schools last year.

“At the beginning of this past school year, we were looking at starting the schools about one teacher down,” Scott said. “So we’re happy for any kind of effort we can make to bring more teachers in or recruit and retain our own teachers.”

The second grant, titled Teachers for Tomorrow, focuses on high school juniors and seniors. Students receiving the grant would begin community college courses during their final years and would continue those courses for a year after graduation. Those students would finish the last two years at Emory & Henry College.

Currently, Smyth County Schools is the only system in that partnership. But Scott said it’s something he has considered.

“If we can create a pathway for them that brings them back to our area and keeps them in the classroom with our future students, then that’s going to be very beneficial for us,” Scott said.

Both Frederick and Carter said they are eager to have a higher teacher retention rate.

“If we can keep the students that want to be in this region, have them highly educated, highly capable and highly qualified, and then they return back in their classrooms, that’s going to have an exponential effect on the on everyone here in Southwest Virginia,” Frederick said.

“Our goal of this is for our graduates to move on, complete the four-year degree, and come back to us to be educators in Smyth County,” Carter said.

The full press release can be found here.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather.