Faith Habeck, a senior at Fort Zumwalt West and an Early Childhood Careers student at the Lewis & Clark Career Center, was recently named a recipient of the Fort Zumwalt “Grow Your Own Teacher” award. The Grow Your Own Teacher award provides recipients $32,000, or $4,000 a semester, to pay for college. Recipients of the scholarship agree that they will get a degree in teaching with a special emphasis in a high-needs field, do their student teaching at a Fort Zumwalt school and teach in the district for 4 years after graduation. 

“I’ve always known that I wanted to be a teacher,” Habeck said. “So, when my counselor told me about the scholarship when I was a sophomore it was something that I was very interested in.”

With the hopes of being a resource math teacher or math interventionist, Habeck has chosen special education as the high-needs field she’ll specialize in. She credits her Lewis & Clark instructor, Mrs. Tifanie Herbert, for inspiring her to get into that field.

“Mrs. Herbert encouraged me to work in a special education classroom last year and I fell in love with the kids,” Habeck said. “She’s definitely a huge influence on why I chose this career path.”

Habeck is currently eyeing Lindenwood University and its teaching program as the next step in her educational career. 

“They have one of the best teaching programs in the area and that’s something that really interests me,” Habeck said.

Congratulations to Faith Habeck on being awarded the Fort Zumwalt “Grow Your Own Teacher” scholarship!