Statewide Programs & Recognitions

Scholarships & Awards

2025 NCSECU Foundation PHP Scholarship Instructions

Greetings Principals and Counselors of NC Charter High School Seniors,

Welcome back to the 2025 NCSECU People Helping People Scholarship Awarding process for charter high school seniors. The grant application window opened on Monday, Dec. 16th, 2024.

OCS will be selecting 10 NCSECU Scholarships to be granted in 2025, awards of up to $10,000 per student.

Here is the folder (LINKED) of information for your school nomination. Carefully read through these resources. There will not be more than one candidate within a school's choosing, due to the number of applicants working to achieve the same goal from other charter schools.

Directions and Dates for Submissions-

  1. The NCSECU PHP Scholarship application opens December 16th, 2024. Another post will be repeated within the next few weeks in our OCS Charter School News blasts.
  2. As the school facilitator, you should plan for this process to be complete by March 5th.  Then your on-site Selection Team will have time to select your finalists and can complete your submissions via email no later than March 12th, at natasha.norins@dpi.nc.gov  in PDF formats. The email should include your student's email address, your email address, your school name, their NCSECU Eligibility verification forms, their student questionnaire, and all essays with their grade averages including college credits earned. Please ensure the Application Process document is read and reread for your understanding as Counselor Facilitators of this process.
  3. Prior to the 3/12/25 deadline, students and you will follow the instructions carefully with the Docusign application process, but should solidify all your nominations a few weeks prior to the 3/12/25 deadline. March 12th is a final hard deadline, and no applications will be accepted after this date.
  4. Along with this final portion of the application, once students complete the application process with all elements included, (which may take up to a week’s worth of effort with emails and completion of packets), you as the school Facilitator will send Dr. Norins emailed applications as PDF files of your final selected senior. *Please note: any application missing elements from the required checklist will not be moved to final stages of selection.
  5. The OCS Selection Committee will process the application materials, perform our calibrations, and finalize formal requirements set by NCSECU Foundation.
  6. OCS selections are then sent to NCSECU no later than April 4th, 2025, and those students will be invited to attend the Charter School Review Board Meeting in May 2024 for formal recognition.

Burroughs Wellcome Fund Teacher of the Year Recognition

The NC Teacher of the Year is recognized at the school, regional, and statewide levels. First, the teacher is chosen to represent their respective school as Teacher of the Year. Similarly, individual public charter schools nominate a Teacher of the Year who participates in a selection process facilitated by the Office of Charter Schools at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Next, once each school district and the charter school nomination processes are completed, the teacher finalists vie as one of the state’s nine Regional Teachers of the Year. [The state is divided into eight geographical regions and NC Charter Schools are clustered together to form the ninth region of the state. The Charter School Teacher of the Year joins the Regional Teachers of the Year team as a finalist for the state Teacher of the Year]. This selection process is facilitated in each region by NC DPI’s Educator Recognition Coordinator. For more information-
https://www.dpi.nc.gov/educators/educator-recognition-programs

Wells Fargo Principal of the Year

The Wells Fargo Principal of the Year Award was introduced in 1984 to recognize the role of the principal in establishing an environment conducive to the pursuit and achievement of academic excellence in North Carolina’s schools. This Foundation sponsors the award in conjunction with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Since the inception of the program, there have been 40 Wells Fargo North Carolina Principals of the Year, 264 regional award recipients, and 3,364 local Wells Fargo Principals of the Year. The Principal of the Year Program recognizes principals at the local, regional, and statewide levels. For more information-

https://www.dpi.nc.gov/educators/educator-recognition-programs  

BTOY- NCCAT

The NCCAT Beginning Teacher of the Year process was developed to honor beginning teachers and to retain teachers who show promise as excellent teachers and education leaders in North Carolina public schools and public charter schools. For more information-  https://www.nccat.org/btoy/overview

Recognition:

The NCCAT Beginning Teacher of the Year will receive:

$5,000 cash prize
Participation for the winner in a GoGlobal NC trip in 2025
Instructional supply funds for the teacher's school

Runner-up
$2,000 cash prize

Finalists will receive
Travel expenses and substitute costs for regional finalists to participate in NCCAT professional development and leadership development.

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