An Illinois Valley Community College student and aspiring teacher from Ottawa has received a prestigious teaching scholarship.
Becoming a Golden Apple Scholar of Illinois qualifies Kealey Rick for tuition assistance as she completes a university education program. Scholars receive professional development and job placement assistance, in return for agreeing to teach for five years in a school that is economically or academically at risk.
Competition for the scholarships is high, with 3,000 applications submitted in the state each year.
Rick shared the news of her award with her instructor, Jill Urban-Bollis, whose excitement equaled Rick’s. “I could not be prouder of Kealey. She is a good example of what dedication and hard work looks like. She has her eyes on the prize and when she gets there, I anticipate she will be one of those educators that truly makes a difference!” Urban-Bollis said.
After graduation this spring, Rick plans to major in elementary education at Illinois State University and get a job teaching in the area. “I want to be one of those teachers who loves being in a classroom,” she said.
Rick enrolled at IVCC as a dual-credit student while still in high school. On campus this year, she balanced action on the IVCC volleyball team with being a preschool classroom assistant and volleyball coach at her alma mater, Marquette Academy in Ottawa. Attending IVCC let Rick spend another year at home in a supportive educational environment, and “gave me the confidence to succeed at a four-year university.”
She was inspired to become a teacher by her mother, Brooke Rick, who is a high school principal, and English teacher Anne Schneider. Rick said she admires her mother’s “drive and determination and love for what she does” and appreciates Schneider’s patience and encouragement as she “took time out of her day to make me a better student.”
Rick said she enjoys working with children, but her own academic struggles strengthened her desire to work in special education. Those obstacles fueled her drive to work harder and develop different learning strategies, a resilience she plans to pass along as a teacher in her classroom.
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