Scholarships

The IRTA Foundation awards six $1,500 scholarships to incoming juniors or seniors in college that are pursuing a degree in education. Thanks to a very generous private donation from one of our members, Areas 4 and 6 each will award a second scholarship of $3,000. The eight winners were chosen through competition with other applicants from their own area of the state.

In December, information regarding the IRTA Foundation Scholarships is sent to all the Major State Universities in Illinois, all Community Colleges in Illinois as well as all IRTA Unit Presidents and Unit Foundation Chairs.

2019 IRTA Area Foundation Scholarship Recipients

The Area 1 recipient is Cody Suddeth of Steward, IL. Cody will be an incoming junior at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. He is pursuing a degree in Agricultural Education.

The Area 2 recipient is Karly Grapenthin of Palatine, IL. Karly is a junior at Northern Illinois University. She is pursuing a Bachelors’ degree in Special Education as well as an endorsement for teaching English as a Second Language. She plans to minor in the Spanish Language and become a certified bilingual teacher.

The Area 3 recipient is Carly Ford of Grant Park, IL. Carly will be an incoming junior and attends Hope College in Holland, MI. She is majoring in Elementary Education with an emphasis in English, Language Arts.

The Area 4 recipient is Sarah Schoolman of East Peoria, IL. Sarah attended Illinois Central College and will be starting her senior year at Eureka College. She is an Elementary Education major.

The Area 4 recipient of the additional scholarship is Madison Frost of Bloomington, IL. She attended Heartland Community College and will be an incoming junior at Illinois State University where she will pursue her degree in Elementary Education.

The Area 5 recipient is Allyson Taylor of Sims, IL. Allyson attended Rend Lake College and is in her junior year at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. She is majoring in Secondary English Education and minoring in Speech Communication Education with an endorsement in Middle School English Education.

The Area 6 recipient is Katherine Drone of McLeansboro, IL. Katherine attended Rend Lake College and will be an incoming junior at the University of Southern Indiana. She is majoring in Elementary Education with a minor in Social Science teaching.

The Area 6 additional scholarship recipient is Katherine Gallaher of Belleville, IL. Katherine is in her junior year at Eastern Illinois University. She is pursuing a Bachelors’ Degree in Special Education.

2019 Moler-Austin Recipients

The Moler-Austin Scholarship is available through the Illinois Retired Teachers Association Foundation. Two scholarships of $4,500 are awarded to Kendall County high school graduates pursuing a degree in education. This scholarship is available because of a generous gift from IRTA member Identa Austin. Identa donated 80 acres of land to the IRTA, and the profits from the sale of that land are used to fund the Moler-Austin scholarship.

This scholarship is advertised in all the local papers in Kendall County. The ad runs the last week of December and the first week of January. This is in hopes of students that are home for Winter Break will see the advertisement.

Brooke Jensen of Yorkville, IL is attending Illinois State University and is an incoming junior. She is in the Middle Level Education program. Her endorsement areas are Mathematics, Science, and English Language Arts.

Conner Christian of Newark, IL is currently a sophomore at Joliet Junior College and in the fall will be attending the University of Illinois pursuing a degree in Agriculture Education.