Scholarships

The Illinois Retired Teachers 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 Illinois Retired Teachers Foundation Scholarships is sent to all the Major State Universities in Illinois, all Community Colleges in Illinois as well as all Illinois Retired Teachers Association Unit Presidents and Unit Foundation Chairs.

2020 Illinois Retired Teachers Association Area Foundation Scholarship Recipients

The Area 1 recipient is Cody Suddeth of Steward, IL. Cody will be an incoming senior at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. He is pursuing a degree in Agricultural Education and hopes to be an Agriculture Teacher and FFA Advisor.

The Area 2 recipient is John Maltese-Miller of Park Ridge, IL. John will be an incoming junior at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. His plans are to become a middle school math and science teacher. John is also a member of the Marching Illini Band.

The Area 3 recipient is Breleigh Eversole of Pesotum, IL. Breleigh will be an incoming senior and attends Eastern Illinois University. She is majoring in Early Childhood Education with an enhancement in Elementary Education. Breleigh is a member of Kappa Delta Pi and the Illinois Student Reading Council.

The Area 4 recipient is Bailee Mueller of Normal, IL. Bailee attended Parkland College where she graduated with Honors and earned an Associate in Arts Degree. She will be starting her senior year at Illinois State University where she is an Elementary Education major.

The Area 4 recipient of the additional scholarship is Karlie Kniep of Morton, IL. Karlie will be an incoming junior at Illinois State University where she will pursue a degree in Middle Level Teacher Education. Her plans are to become a middle school math teacher.

The Area 5 recipient is Andrew Inda of Decatur, IL. Andrew attends Richland Community College and in the fall will be an incoming junior at Illinois State University. He is majoring in Biological Sciences Teacher Education so he can fulfill his dream of becoming a high school biology teacher.

The Area 6 recipient is Rachel Durham of Eldorado, IL. Rachel will be an incoming senior and attends Union University in Jackson, TN. She is majoring in Elementary Education and has been on the Dean’s List for both the Spring and the Fall semesters of 2019.

The Area 6 additional scholarship recipient is Allison Baer of Carbondale, IL. Allison will be an incoming senior at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale where she is pursuing a degree in Elementary Education. Allison is a member of the Paws4Paws RSO and the Elementary Education Student Organization at SIUC.

2020 Moler-Austin Recipients

The Moler-Austin Scholarship is available through the Illinois Retired Teachers 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 Illinois Retired Teachers Association member Identa Austin. Identa donated 80 acres of land to the Illinois Retired Teachers Association, 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.

Brianna Welch of Oswego, IL is attending Concordia University Chicago and is an incoming senior. She is pursuing a degree in Elementary Education and Psychology. Brianna works as a tutor at the Academic Center for Excellence where she specializes in helping students in different math classes as well as helping other future educators write lesson plans. She is a member of Kappa Delta Pi and is also a part of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee where she serves on the Special Olympics committee.

Huntar Jones of Yorkville, IL will be an incoming senior at Northern Illinois University pursuing a degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis in bilingual education and teaching English as a second language. Huntar hopes to be a bilingual teacher in her hometown school. She believes supporting students in their native language is something that is so important when working with English learning students.