ECU student to spend semester at Ron Clark Academy

An East Carolina University junior was selected to be the first to participate in a new clinical experience program at the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Georgia.

ECU College of Education student Carla K. Watson, of Martin County, will spend the spring semester at the academy. As part of the award, Watson will receive a $2,500 stipend and will stay at nearby Oglethorpe University. In the fall, she’ll return to ECU to finish her degree and complete her senior year internship.

The award is designed specifically for an ECU junior, with the goal of engaging students who have a passion for education in a unique school environment. Clark, an ECU alumnus and award-winning teacher, founded the private academy in 2007 with the vision of inspiring its students through energetic teaching, balanced by a strict code of discipline. Thousands of educators from around the world visit the academy each year to learn how to replicate the school’s style, philosophy and success in their own classrooms.

In January, through private donations and the Ron Clark Academy, Watson will be among them. She is a 2006 honors graduate of Jamesville High School, majoring in middle grades education with concentrations in mathematics education and social studies. While in high school, she was a volunteer tutor for ECU’s Project HEART (High Expectations for At Risk Teens), a program designed to help reduce the dropout rate and improve student graduation rates. Watson now works part-time with the North Carolina Early Mathematics Placement Testing Program at ECU, which aims to reduce the number incoming freshmen who place into remedial mathematics.