RECORD DONATION
College of Education receives largest-ever gift
The value of a good education is proven 50,000 times over.
That is the ironclad belief of Patricia Anderson, professor and interim chair of the Department of Elementary Education and Middle Grades Education at East Carolina University. For 39 years, she’s touted the importance of early and middle grades education to aspiring teachers.
“Without a firm basis in learning, or a positive learning environment, children will struggle as learners for the rest of their lives. Elementary educators give kids the firmest foundation and the most positive learning experiences that they can, and everything builds on that,” Anderson said. “Our goal is to put out teachers who can meet that need. Frankly, we do a really good job of that.”
Campers at ECU’s STEAM summer camp work on pipe cleaner initials.
(File photo taken pre-COVID-19)
ECU’s elementary education program is nationally recognized for its innovation and effectiveness in preparing knowledgeable, informed, professional teachers who impact the lives of thousands of students annually.
So what would a record seven-figure donation for scholarships and programming allow the department and its future teachers to do?
We’re about to find out.
Donors Edward and Sara Coble Roos recently made the largest financial gift ever received in the College of Education (COE) to establish the Roos Elementary Education Scholars Program.
The Roos scholarship will award $5,000 a year to outstanding incoming freshmen and graduate students who wish to become, or already are, classroom elementary teachers.
“The generosity and magnitude of this gift will positively impact the preparation of teachers for many years to come,” Dean Art Rouse said.
Including graduate students in the scholarship program is significant. There is less incentive for teachers to pursue graduate degrees because North Carolina lawmakers in 2013 eliminated a provision that granted automatic pay raises to public school teachers who completed master’s degrees.
“When that occurred, the bottom fell out of our graduate program,” Anderson said. “Although our numbers have increased, graduate scholarships are almost unheard of.”
However, there are signs those incentives could be reinstated, and when that happens, ECU’s teachers will be ready, she said.
Roos Scholars will also be a part of the College of Education Living Learning Community and will have leadership development and travel opportunities in addition to other programming.
While the whole program hasn’t been designed yet, it could include trips to visit and observe outstanding schools like the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta (run by COE alumnus Ron Clark). There will also be an emphasis on the most up-to-date teaching methods and technologies, including innovative approaches for virtual learning and student engagement, Anderson said.
“We’re beyond excited for the opportunities that are going to come out because of this gift,” she added. “It’s an honor that someone wants to support our program and what we’re doing.”
Ed and Sara Roos are giving to the College of Education to support elementary education scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students. (Contributed photo)
MEET THE DONORS
Originally from High Point, Sara Coble Roos studied elementary education at ECU and graduated in 1965. She loves children, and teaching a younger age group appealed to her.
“They’re like sponges. They’re interested in everything, they like learning and teaching sets the tone for their lifelong learning,” she said. “The basic tenants of elementary education are reading, writing and arithmetic. It is important to establish those skills at an early age.”
One of her fondest memories at ECU was student teaching. Beginning sophomore year, elementary and middle grade education majors get real classroom experience, leading up to a full semester in the classroom as seniors.
“When I student taught, the teacher I was shadowing was the opposite of my personality.
I was more or less quiet. She would sing, laugh, jump on her chair. But the first time I met with her, she said, ‘This is your class, so you don’t have to be like me.’ She gave me the freedom to explore various techniques and see how students responded,” Roos said.
After graduating, she got a teaching job in Florida, where she met Ed, a technician working at Cape Canaveral. Ed studied physics at the Florida Institute of Technology. They eventually married and moved to Los Altos, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley.
With neighbors like Facebook, Google and Apple, the Rooses made investments in tech companies before they became the behemoths they are today. The couple decided to put their earnings success toward donations to several universities, including ECU. The Roos Elementary Education Scholars Program at ECU is an endowment and a future planned estate gift.
“We want people to have the means to be educated. I’m very disturbed about the escalation of the cost to go to college,” Ed Roos said. “In my day it was relatively inexpensive. Students are forced to take out these college loans that could lead to an unstable financial future. You shouldn’t have to borrow that kind of money to go to school.”
Sara Roos added, “We want to give back to the universities that provided the skills we needed to succeed and hope we can help someone pursue their dream of becoming a teacher.”
To Apply
Visit ECU’s ECUAWard portal and complete an online application. Scholarship applications will close at midnight on Jan. 15.
Eligibility requirements: Applicants must be elementary education majors with a minimum unweighted GPA of 3.0 or better and a minimum score of 1080 on the SAT or 21 (composite) on the ACT.