GLENVILLE – Applications are being accepted for the Glenville State College (GSC) Home Grown Scholarship Program. The scholarship is part of the Home Grown Initiative at GSC that is focused on prospective teacher identification in the county schools, partnered with scholarship support for candidate attendance at GSC, practical experiences, and mentoring during teacher preparation into the start of full-time teaching.

The goal is for the students to return to their home counties to student teach and, if available, be able to apply for open positions in their home district.

The program is open to students in all 55 West Virginia counties. Superintendents identify what is a “high need” teaching position for their district and notifies GSC. Qualified students are then nominated by the superintendent or their designee for a scholarship in that teaching area.

To be eligible for the Home Grown Initiative scholarship program, students must be a newly enrolled, first-year student at GSC and be from any county in the state. They must enroll in the Bachelor of Arts in Education degree major – such as Early Education, General Science, Special Education, Mathematics, and others – that their superintendent has identified as “high need,” have a minimum 3.0 GPA and minimum average ACT composite score of 20 or SAT composite score of 1020, obtain recommendation from the school superintendent or designee, and be willing to complete their student teaching back in their home county if possible. The required ACT/SAT test taking is being waived in some instances this year. If the applicant has not taken the test(s) due to the exemption, all other criteria will be used for selection.

The annual $3,000 scholarship is renewable based on certain criteria.

The scholarship is competitive with only 35 students to be accepted for the upcoming academic year.

“Students who have already been accepted into the Homegrown Initiative as part of last year’s class are receiving strong academic support with regular meetings to discuss their academic success. The students are also performing community service hours back in their home district each semester,” said Dr. Jeff Hunter, Dean of Education at Glenville State. “To successfully address the shortage of teachers in our state, we need to identify the people who want to make a difference at home and support them through their program to return home!” he added.

For more information on the Home Grown Initiative at GSC, contact the Office of Admissions at 1-800-924-2010 or the Department of Education at 304-462-4119.