April Maynor and Nicole Stumbling Bear have been awarded the STEM Pre-Service Teacher Education Scholarship through the North Carolina Space Grant.

Maynor is set to graduate on Saturday, May 4. Stumbling Bear, a senior from Shallotte, will graduate in fall 2019. Stumbling Bear is a double major, pursuing a degree in secondary education with a concentration in biology and a bachelor’s degree in biology.

Maynor, of Lumberton, is an elementary education major with a concentration in special education. The scholarships are aimed specifically at students enrolled in teacher education programs.

STEM Pre-Service Teacher Education Scholars will have the chance to complete a series of three NASA STEM Digital Badges, participate in professional seminars and attend a cohort field trip to NASA Langley Research Center in order to equip them with STEM-fields understanding and NASA content and tools as they enter into K-12 science classrooms. While there, the students present posters of their digital badge work to NASA Langley Office of Education staff.

Maynor and Stumbling Bear are members of First Americans’ Teacher Education (FATE) grant program at UNCP. The program seeks to increase the number of highly qualified American Indian teachers who will teach in schools with significant American Indian student populations. Stumbling Bear is a member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma. Mayor is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe.

Stumbling Bear is also a student researcher in the William C. Friday Laboratory.