Teacher Appreciation Scholarship
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James Lafferty
Always enthusiastic about the use of technology in the classroom, James Lafferty was eager to begin working on his Masters of Arts in Teaching and Learning with Technology. After learning he'd won the scholarship from Ashford University, he was thrilled, "My first reaction was pure elation. I can't express enough how much I appreciate it."
Following high school, Lafferty came to the conclusion he was not mature enough to take college seriously and he subsequently enlisted in the Air Force. It was while serving his country that Lafferty decided he was meant to be a teacher. "After four years as a Medical Technician, I realized that my true passion was teaching. Once I left the Air Force, I earned my Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from California State San Marcos and obtained my teaching credential from there as well."
Lafferty's time in the military – climbing to the rank of Senior Airman Medical Technician – left him with the indelible need to run a tight ship and this has enabled his success in the classroom as student, teacher and coach. He will use the sense of purpose and drive he adopted in the military to take him through the rigors of earning his Masters of Arts in Teaching and Learning with Technology.
A master's degree was always on Lafferty's to-do list, but his life had grown full with teaching math, coaching football and baseball, and being a parent. The full-time demands of a traditional master's degree would not have suited him and he was forced to put off those plans.
"With Ashford and its online courses, I'm able to easily fit school in my schedule," stated Lafferty. "It gives me flexibility to finish my classes when I can. Ashford's Masters Program in Teaching & Learning with Technology will give me the tools to better myself academically for the benefit of my students."
After five years teaching mathematics for the Poway Unified School District in San Diego, Lafferty knows what will help his students. Both the knowledge gained while studying for his master's and the practices and application of technology he's exposed to in the process will serve to elevate the quality of his teaching, all to the benefit of his students.
Tiffany Navarro
Having dedicated herself to a life of education, Tiffany Navarro seeks to pass the thrill of learning along to her students. She rode a wave of AP classes through high school en route to her bachelor's at Brigham Young University, where she graduated magna cum laude in two and a half years. Then she pushed onward to her teaching degree. Upon entering the working world, Navarro landed in front of a classroom of kindergartners at Willow Grove Elementary in San Diego's Poway Unified School District, a job she's sought since she herself was in the fourth grade. In fact, when asked her plans following the completion of her master's degree, Navarro readily confessed she wanted to continue exactly what she's doing now, "instilling a love of learning in all my adorable little students."
Through the span of her career, Navarro has built herself into a teaching-improvement artist. Using her natural energy and eagerness, plus the universe of instructors around her, she has expanded not only her skill-set, but those of all she collaborates with. Her heartfelt need to care for students on a level beyond that of an instructor has led her teaching into other parts of the school's footprint as well and she routinely supports afterschool programs, school pride and invests her time in the rigors of building momentum into her new school's expanding activities.
Navarro's next step is her Master of Arts in Education, which she'd previously delayed because of the sheer investment necessary to complete it. Ashford University's scholarship puts her within an arm's length of that master's and will allow her to advance her education to a level that would have otherwise been out of reach. Thanks to Ashford, Navarro's life of learning can continue.
As a new mother taking a break from teaching summer school to be with her child, Navarro has had time to consider the merits of her career as a teacher. "The biggest reason for going and getting my master's is because I believe teachers should always be learning, growing and improving themselves. I also actually really enjoy school. I would go to school the rest of my life if I could!"