Dark Horse Fellows’ new chapter

The Clinton City Schools teaching profession is shaping up to be filled with homegrown teachers following their recent honoring of the newest cohorts to the Dark Horse Fellows program.

On Wednesday afternoon, the CCS central office main conference room was packed with those students. Each was a Dark Horse Fellow being celebrated for joining the program and aspiring to one day teach within their current school system. DHF, which started out with just one student in Woodlyne Pierre in 2022, when it was launched, has blossomed into an upcoming core group of 22 members for 2024.

“We’re excited to be here with you guys, not just because you’re all new Dark Horse Fellows; we’re excited that our group has grown to 22 people,” said Vevlyn Lowe, who piloted in DHF to CCS.

That list of student names included: seniors, Evyn Johnson, Sofia Fleury Mendible and Abigail Jaramillo Serrano; juniors, Allyson Hobbs, Evan Gillespie, Brianna Jackson, Kylie Johnson, Jazlyn Orona and Bailey Waters; and sophomores, Silvestre Del Valle Olivia, Amirah Faircloth, Alecia Hooper, Morgan Jackson, Raynah Jones, Anna Lovitt, Zadia Melvin, Kennedy Moore, Keyla Serrano, Giana Smith, KaMareyon Smith, Derin Travers and Reese Woodard.

The gathering that day was also a DHF meeting about the future. A surprise recognition was made involving the cohorts. Among those names, this year’s recipient of a $40,000 forgivable loan was also announced.

“We’re going to award our forgivable loan for the Dark Horse Fellows today,” Dr. Theresa Melenas said. “To those of you just joining the program, the forgivable loan gives you the opportunity to come back to Clinton City Schools and teach for us and we’re super excited about that. So now, I would like to do is go ahead and present our Dark Horse Fellow forgivable loan to Evyn Johnson.”

The loan is for eligible Clinton High seniors who are a part of Dark Horses Fellows and pursing teaching after graduating. The money is meant to help them pay for their college education before returning as a CCS teacher. The forgivable loan is $10,000 per year to a four-year university that’s renewable up to four years. Upon successful completion of their undergraduate degree and teacher certification, recipients of the forgivable loan will teach in Clinton City Schools one full year for each year they receive the loan.

“Evyn has a love for children; when I went to observe her at the Summer Read To Achieve Camp the kids just loved her,” Lowe said. “Her mentor was Ms. Cynthia Lawson last summer and even she realized how much the kids fell in love with her so we’re glad to have you. Mr. Adam Smith was Evyn’s mentor during last fall semester and she’s taking her class with Sampson Community College’s Dr. Freeman Sankey.

“This just goes to show that it takes a lot of people to help the Dark Horse Fellows; this isn’t just Mrs. Lowe’s Dark Horses Fellows, it’s Clinton City Schools’. It’s going to take all of us to work hard to get future teachers for CSS. This is not something we can leave up to the state or another group,” said Lowe.

“We’ve got to take care of our own right here in the city schools and this is where it’s going to happen. And one day, one of you are going to be doing my job of recruiting teachers, because that’s how we get future teachers.”

Funded through The Anonymous Trust, CCS was bestowed the seed money it needed to start the program. Dark Horse Fellows itself is a teacher preparatory program in CCS and is available to successful Clinton High School rising juniors and seniors with a strong passion to become educators. The program provides forgivable loans toward college tuition to selected recipients, work experience, mentor support and experience-based learning opportunities.

The program also allows students to take dual-credit teacher education courses through Sampson Community College. Additionally, students receive personalized support during the college application and scholarship process.

“We are so proud to support the Dark Horse Fellows here in Sampson County through Simple Gifts Fund and Anonymous Trust,” said Margaret Turlington, director for the Simple Gifts Fund/Anonymous Trust. “We are also proud to support educators in all of rural eastern North Carolina because rural eastern North Carolina matters and you matter so thank you.”