Skylar Harrison of North Lenoir High School is one of 75 graduating seniors in the state named a North Carolina Teaching Fellow. An aspiring special education teacher, she already volunteers in a special education classroom at her school.

She benefits from having a role model and a volunteer’s understanding of the job and now, in her pursuit of a career as a special education teacher, Skylar Harrison has a clearer path to the college degree that will get her there. She’s a newly named North Carolina Teaching Fellow.

The North Lenoir High School senior is among a group of 132 students from 53 North Carolina counties awarded the fellowships last week.

“I was ecstatic,” Skylar said Monday, recalling the moment she opened an email from the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Commission on Thursday. Her award notification capped a process that began in October with an application and essays and continued for months through the selection of semifinalists and finalists and the interviews used to narrow the list.

The Teaching Fellows program is a competitive, merit-based forgivable loan program providing tuition assistance of up to $8,250 per year for qualified students committed to teaching special education, science, technology, engineering or math in a North Carolina public school. The purpose of the program is to recruit, prepare and support future teachers who attend institutions of higher education in North Carolina.

Seventy-five of the awards went to high school seniors like Skylar, with the remainder going to college-transfer students and licensure-only students. Fifty-four of the awardees intend to seek licensure in special education.

That’s a field Skylar knows something about. There’s a special education classroom in her schedule and a special education teacher in her family.

The time she spends as a volunteer in Stacy Britt’s classroom at North Lenoir is work that put a career into sharper focus.

“Before this year I wasn’t completely sure about what I wanted to do,” Skylar said. “After my experience helping Ms. Britt’s class, I just decided I wanted to be a teacher. I can’t imagine going into any other profession.

“I’ve always had a desire to work with those children and this (volunteer work) has been a great opportunity. It’s challenging but very rewarding. I enjoy my time with those children.”

And as a special education, or exceptional children’s, teacher, she will be following in the footsteps of her favorite aunt, Ginger Harrison, who taught for years with Lenoir County Public Schools before becoming a curriculum specialist with the district’s EC program.

“She’s one of my favorite people and she’s really inspired me,” Skylar said of her aunt. “I’ve been really close to her since before I can remember. I think what she does is great and I hope to be half the person she is one day.”

Skylar plans to take her NC Teaching Fellow award to N.C. State University. Teaching Fellows receive enhancement and enrichment activities throughout their program studies. Following their graduation, they benefit from the New Teacher Support Program as they begin to work in schools across the state.

The 17-year-old daughter of Brandon and Shannon Harrison of La Grange, she is a product of Lenoir County Public Schools – Banks Elementary, EB Frink Middle and North Lenoir High. Being a student has shaped her opinion about what makes a great teacher.

“They care a lot. You can tell when a teacher genuinely cares,” Skylar said. “I’ve struggled and having a teacher there to support me academically and emotionally was very beneficial and very inspiring.”