UC Senior Awarded $20,000 For Fueling Preschoolers Love of Learning

“I knew I had found the right major on my first day in (Special Education Professor) Anne Bauer’s class, when we began it by singing ‘Yellow Submarine,’ by The Beatles. That transitioned into a discussion on how different learners engage materials in the classroom. It was only the beginning.”

Kayla Trusty, of Lima, Ohio, says she just loves the idea of building an educational community, and says that preschoolers are the best age group to start. Trusty, a University of Cincinnati senior in early childhood education, is the recipient of the 2011 Pearl M. Wright Award from the UC College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH).

Trusty was selected among 14 applicants and eight finalists to receive the full, $20,000 award which honors a UC early childhood education major for serving young children. The award can be used for tuition and other college expenses as well as housing and living costs. Another $30,000 was distributed in varying amounts to the other finalists, says Cammie Hulett, CECH assistant academic director and scholarship coordinator.

A CECH honor since 1999, the award comes from a $660,000 endowment established by Kathryn E. Wright, named in memory of her sister, Pearl. Both women graduated from CECH in the 1920s, dedicated their careers to education and shared a home in Clifton.

Pearl M. Wright spent 30 years working for Clifton School and was principal when she retired in 1957. Kathryn Wright dedicated much of her career to working with blind and visually impaired children at Bloom Junior High School, and later worked at Kirby Road School before taking early retirement to care for her ailing father.

Pearl M. Wright was 96 years old when she died in 1990. Kathryn’s will was written in 1992, four years prior to her death at age 95. Her will established the award as a tribute to her sister, specifying that the annual award honor a UC senior who “best exemplifies high moral and academic standards of a primary teacher – who is sensitive, loving and understanding of little children.”

Trusty’s passion is to work in urban school settings, which are often high-need settings for recruiting and retaining talented teachers. She says that she and her fiancé, Jake Latsha, a math education major at The Ohio State University, both hope to work for Teach For America after graduation.

“I really want to instill in my students the importance of working together and the importance of community and helping each other,” she says. “I have a strong commitment for advocating for students in general – whether it’s what is going to benefit them from assessment, or serving students with special needs or serving students who are English language learners.”

Trusty is now looking ahead to her student teaching experience at Cincinnati Public’s Oyler School, where she’ll work with kindergarten and first graders this fall.

“One attitude can change a life forever,” she says. “Children represent future generations that will be looked to for friendship, innovation and progress. Young minds need encouragement and support in their development. But most importantly, children need the opportunity to be successful in their role as students.”

UC’s College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services has been dedicated to excellence in teaching for more than a century. With more than 35,000 alumni, 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students and more than 150 faculty and staff, the college prepares students to work in diverse communities, provides continual professional development and fosters education leadership at the local, state, national and international levels.

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