PEARCY -- Brittany Bailey, a fourth-grade teacher at Lake Hamilton Intermediate School, was recently named a 2021 recipient of the Parsons-Burnett Scholarship Grant.
The scholarships are awarded each year by the Arkansas Retired Teachers Association with the purpose of supporting Arkansas public-school educators in furthering their education, the Lake Hamilton School District said in a news release.
Bailey, a graduate of Henderson State University, said Tuesday the grant opportunity was "sent out through our district, so I just applied for it," and the scholarship committee "actually contacted me. They sent out a letter in the mail and also emailed me. I was pretty excited to find out I got it."
"The program that I'm working on right now does not allow me to use Pell grants or loans, so it's all out-of-pocket expenses. So, that was very exciting to be able to be awarded that," Bailey said.
"I'm going back to school to get my curriculum director's license through Arkansas State University, (and) hopefully, one day, to become a curriculum director. If not, something in between classroom and that, which would be a facilitator of some sort."
Going back to school while being a full-time teacher can be a challenge, but Bailey said, "I've done that before. I already have my master's degree. While I was doing that I was teaching full-time the whole time."
The classes are "all online classes," she said. "So, on nights, on the weekends ... those are my times I have to sort of set aside chunks of time to be able work on that."
Bailey said in regards to this school year she is looking forward to, "hopefully regular school as much as possible. You know ... back in the classroom ... as much normalcy as we can possibly get."
Twelve scholarships were awarded this year through a competitive application process, all funded by contributions from the members of the ARTA, the release said.
ARTA was established in 1939-40 with 15 members. Today, it is the fourth-largest professional trade association in Arkansas. The organization maintains an active interest in public education while advocating for the professional, personal, social, and economic welfare of retired (and future-retired) public school employees.
Caroline Miller and Golden Lloyd with the Garland County Retired Teachers Association presented the check to Bailey. Any retired educator in Garland County can join the GCRTA for their first meeting on Sept. 17. For more information, email [email protected].
For more information about the Arkansas Retired Teachers Association or the Parsons-Burnett Scholarship Grants, call 501-375-2958.
