Tonia Crawford (’19) and Sam Whitman (’20) are the inaugural recipients of the 2018 APEX (American Primary Experience Program) Scholarship awarded by the University of Vermont. Both are undergraduate students in the Elementary Education program.
This year, UVM began awarding the scholarship annually to students whose child-centered study and practice represent the ideas, values, and vision of the innovative and internationally recognized APEX Program designed by education professors Charles Rathbone and Frank Watson in the 1970s. APEX was built upon the notion that children can grow, learn and feel successful when they are part of a positive, inspired community of learners, a student-centered curriculum, and educators committed to the role of relationship in the learning process.
"These wonderful students really do represent who and what we're seeking to create," said Rathbone, an Emeritus faculty member with the College of Education and Social Services (CESS).
Tonia Crawford
Currently in her senior year at UVM, Tonia’s goal is to return to the Bronx, New York to make a difference in the lives of children from her area.
“I chose this career path because I experienced the education that many students have living in urban neighborhoods,” she says. “I valued my education because of my teachers.” Following graduation, she plans to work for an organization such as City Year or Teach for America so she can help students in urban areas where sufficient resources are insufficient for providing a high-quality education.
One memory that solidified Tonia’s passion for teaching was during her senior year of high school. “Around that time, I was a tutor for elementary students,” she recalls. “My first-grade student had a difficult time with ELA (English Language Arts). During my time with him, the main goal that his mother had was to improve his reading and writing skills. One day he was struggling with reading a sentence and we were going through every word that was difficult. He didn’t want to stop until he completed the sentence. After several trials, he finally pronounced all the words correctly, and the joy on his face was all the satisfaction that I needed. He ran to his mom, brought her to me, and read it by himself. I hold this memory close to me because these are the type of moments that I like to experience as I become an educator.”
UVM’s teacher preparation programs are well known for providing students with extensive field experience in schools and other community settings. Tonia appreciates having opportunities to explore different grade levels because "it allows us to reevaluate our thinking and helps us decide what grade level we want to teach in the future.”
She also values her relationships with people throughout the CESS community – her professors, field placement supervisors, mentor teachers, and peers. Impressed by their ongoing support, Tonia gives praise to her faculty advisor Simon Jorgenson and many other faculty and staff. “I appreciate Cindy Leonard, Ellen Baker, Gillian Homestead, and Kim Nicasio for helping me with my Praxis core and Praxis multiple subjects exam. Juliet Halladay was my field placement supervisor professor during my junior year, and she provided substantial feedback that I needed to improve. When I was struggling with my Praxis reading exam, she provided the opportunity to meet with her regularly for help.”
Tonia also notes how the special bonds with her peers contribute to a strong sense of community in the College. “Whenever I have questions about a class or an assignment I feel comfortable asking them for advice and help. They’re supportive and help me in any way that they can. And whenever they have questions they are comfortable approaching me, so I give them the support that they need.”
Sam Whitman
Sam was undecided on his career path as a first-year student at UVM. But soon everything came into focus. “When I thought about the important people in my life,” he explains, “I found that most of them were educators at some point. My grandparents were teachers, and I had many elementary teachers who really impacted my life in positive ways. I want to have that kind of positive impact on other people, so I chose to become a teacher.”
In addition to being an Elementary Education major, Sam is also in the Educating for Cultural and Linguistic Diversity (ECLD) minor, as well as the TESOL (Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages) Certification program. Following graduation, he has an interest in traveling abroad to teach English to children and adults in other countries.
Sam notes the strong connection between CESS and the local area, specifically local schools. “Many education classes involve students helping out in classrooms to gain experience, so the students all become very familiar with local schools and how they run, which prepares us for post-graduation work. The fact that I am learning strategies and pedagogy now that will be directly useful when I enter the field is very rewarding, and it motivates me to learn as much as I can. Helping out in classrooms and watching teachers work is also helpful in improving my skills and discovering what kind of teacher I would like to be. I also found out how easy it is to care about each individual student in your classroom in a very short time.”
Currently, Sam is gaining valuable experience in a classroom at the Integrated Arts Academy in Burlington, working with students who have recently arrived in America and are learning English and other skills. “This widened my perspective on other cultures and gave me the opportunity to learn about how best to engage students who are learning English.”
All of the faculty of CESS are incredibly supportive, according to Sam. “Professor Cindy Leonard has been a valuable resource for any advice I need and help with planning my future. Professor Cynthia Reyes introduced me to and guided me through the ECLD minor, so I can support non-native English speakers in the classroom.”
He also finds that all of the students in his cohort are incredibly motivated and supportive of each other. “There is no competitiveness between students. We all want to become the best teachers we can be, and through helping others succeed, we also help ourselves.”
The APEX Story
UVM's APEX Scholarship Fund was created and named in honor of the innovative program started in the 1970s by education professors Frank Watson and Charles Rathbone. In launching APEX, they sought to change the way teachers taught and students learned by infusing experiential learning into educational systems.
Their ideas were validated when they received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education in 1976. APEX became a nationally and internationally recognized program as a new educational learning model.
“Vermont was the place to go see hope for the future of education,” Rathbone recalls. “It was a very exciting time. We wanted to change the world through education. We weren’t just talking about it, we were doing it.
“We were influenced by the role of the classroom as a kind of humanistic cauldron where social problems could be encountered, expressed, worked through safely, and solved; where academic challenges could be thought through and solutions pursued collaboratively,” said Rathbone. “And we were influenced by the intellectual notion of a curriculum being an integrated holistically inspired project – intimately connected to children’s prior knowledge – that could be pursued collaboratively with enthusiasm, delight, and deepening and connected structures of knowledge."
Many years of alumni testimony shows that the impact was long-lasting and remains strong to this day. Rathbone believes the legacy of the program was captured by Ellen Baker, the director of teacher education at UVM. Baker notes that APEX helped set the framework for more recent revisions in UVM’s education programs.
“We hope to continue building a loyal group of supporters to help increase the scholarship fund and help more students who believe in the values of the APEX program,” says Rathbone.
The scholarship idea was presented and unanimously supported at the program’s 40th-anniversary celebration event at UVM in 2013. Wayne Tarr (’76), Ebeth Oliver (’76), Tim Wile (’79), Pam Sheply ('79) and Rathbone worked with the UVM Foundation and the APEX nation (alumni and other supporters) to bring the scholarship fund to fruition.
To learn more about teacher education programs at UVM, visit the Department of Education website.
If you would like to consider making a contribution to the APEX Scholarship Fund or other CESS programs, please visit the CESS Giving page.