Westminster’s Education Department Honors Grant Recipient and Upcoming Graduates in Celebratory Year-End Event

If Westminster gave an award for “Most Celebratory Departmental Party,” the recipient might be the education department, whose end-of-year awards event grows larger and more festive each year.

Special guests, balloon arches, blue and gold decorations and an enormous buffet greeted more than 75 attendees who joined together to celebrate the College’s 2024 Grow Your Own education grant recipient and graduating seniors who will receive their diplomas at commencement on May 11, 2024.

Early childhood education major Courtney Street, ’25 ΑΓΔ, a junior from Fulton, Missouri, was named this year’s Grow Your Own grant recipient from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The Grow Your Own scholarship will be used to offset remaining tuition and fees after after previously awarded aid is applied.

Superintendent Ty Crain and Assistant Superintendent Chris Hubbard of the Fulton Public Schools presented Street with the contract for her grant, which specifies she will teach in the district following her graduation in 2025. Street announced she will student teach at Bartley Elementary School next year.

“We’re very excited for the grant funds to go to Courtney for the scholarship,” Crain said. “We’re really appreciative of the partnership with the Westminster administration and the College’s education department, as well.”

Among others recognized were Westminster’s student teachers as well as their college supervisors and  cooperating teachers.

Additionally, gifts were presented to graduating seniors by board members of the College’s student-run Education Association, and those graduating each announced their plans following commencement. Most seniors announced they will teach in central Missouri beginning next fall.

Assistant Professor Sarah Hairston, PhD, chairperson of the education department, said the cheerful atmosphere of the event each year is the result of a concerted effort to recognize everyone involved, from students to faculty to area community members.

Hairston reflected, “It is important to celebrate the accomplishments of these students-turned-professional educators as well as those districts and individuals who have been instrumental along the way. It takes a village, and we certainly are very proud of ours.”