Sarah G. Ball Teaching Award
The Sarah G. Ball Education Award will be granted to a senior at Washington and Lee University who has completed coursework in the field of education (EDUC 200: Foundations of Education as a minimum) or significant fieldwork (a minimum of three credit hours of EDUC practicum) or student teaching in Lexington, Buena Vista, or Rockbridge County schools, and pledges after graduation to secure a teaching position in elementary or secondary education serving impoverished communities and/or students in the United States or abroad.
The purpose of the Ball Award is to encourage W&L students to:
- consider elementary and secondary education as a career
- serve the local schools by doing fieldwork and student teaching
- seek licensure for teaching
- improve the quality of education for schools and students that have been disadvantaged
The award winner and alternate will be selected based on three criteria:
- the quality of the application, particularly their manifest commitment to education as a means to augment the capability of economically, physically and /or psychologically disadvantaged students
- the quality of the academic and service record, particularly in education
- the demonstrated need for financial assistance in order to teach in schools that cannot afford to pay salaries competitive with other positions in education or other occupations
The recipient of the Sarah G. Ball Education Award will receive recognition at Washington and Lee University's graduation and a $4,000 salary supplement for the first year of teaching, renewable for a second year. In order to receive the salary supplement, students must be employed by a private or public school that satisfies the criteria as serving disadvantaged students and/or communities. In the past, award winners have used the money for a variety of needs, such as school supplies for their students, tuition for graduate courses in education that they are completing while teaching, and for general expenses because of a low teaching salary.