Stories of Impact
Since 2000, the Kenan Fellows Program for Teacher Leadership has been a K-12 education leader in fostering collaborations between teachers and local industry, institutes of higher learning, and community organizations. We empower educators with tools, resources, and peer support to deliver impactful learning experiences that equip all learners with the critical thinking and problem-solving skills they need to thrive.
Read more success stories in our news section.
Innovation in Education-Community Connections
Leader in Inclusivity
With support from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, we launched an inclusivity-in-teacher-leadership initiative to add more voices, skills, and talents to the growing chorus of educational leaders focused on creating inclusive educational experiences for all students.
Our Fellows have created welcome kits for English Language Learners, contributed to the Dudley Floyd Center’s equity in education mapping project, and written resource guides for companies and businesses to employ and support individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Financial Literacy with Fidelity Investments
Taylor Waters, a fourth-grade teacher, spent the summer of 2019 at Fidelity Investments, where she saw how the company trains its employees, worked in user experience design, and conducted empathy interviews to create an online financial literacy guide for Fidelity’s employees.
That fall, she took all of that knowledge and wisdom and gave it back to her fourth graders, incorporating financial literacy lessons into her math and social studies classes.
Reprinted from NC State News article by Deborah Strange.
Igniting Students’ Curiosity in Science
In Christine Sudzina Schut’s middle school classroom, students used stereoscopes to observe fruit fly life cycles. They learned how to induce chill comas in fruit flies for observation, recorded data, and discussed environmental impacts on organism development.
Through this inquiry-based learning, they grasped survival, reproduction, and basic life functions. They also took pride in their work, inviting friends to view their experiments, much to Sudzina’s fulfillment.
She created the lessons following her summer immersion experience at a research lab at UNC-Chapel Hill.