Doug Goodfellow Memorial Scholarship

Doug Goodfellow was a beloved English Teacher at Volcano Vista High School, where he taught for the past 12 years. We are soliciting donations to establish a scholarship in his honor. The scholarship will be exclusive to Volcano Vista students seeking any post-secondary education (vocational or technical schools, community college, or 4-year university). The family is matching donations up to the first $3,000! More on Doug and what this scholarship will look like below.

About Doug

Doug aspired to be an English Teacher since high school, but his path took him in many other directions--bartender, car salesman, insurance agent, and more. But in his 40's, he decided to make a BIG change. Doug enrolled at the University of New Mexico to complete his Bachelor’s degree (As Doug would say, 'I loved college so much--I went to five of them!') while also running his Allstate agency full time. He finished with straight A's, sold the agency (using some of the proceeds to finish another lifelong dream--climbing Denali!), and completed his master’s degree in Secondary Education.

Determined to become a teacher, he commuted to Santa Fe from Albuquerque for a year to complete his student teaching at Capitol High School. After which, he taught history at Cibola High School, and finally, he arrived where he'd always hoped to be--English Teacher! He began teaching at Volcano Vista in 2008. Doug adored his student. He was known for his patient and understanding nature, and his great wit. Having come from a broken home, underperformed in high school, and dropped out of college multiple times, he was empathetic to students facing challenges at home and in the classroom.

Doug prided himself on preparing his students for college. His classes were known to be rigorous. He was proud to once overhear a student say, ‘Ah man, you have Goodfellow? You actually have to do stuff in his class!’ Each summer he eagerly awaited his student’s Advanced Placement test results, he wore their success like a badge of honor.

Doug’s loss will be felt for years to come in the Volcano Vista community. But, his memory lives on in the thousands of students he supported and coached over the years.

About the scholarship

To honor Doug’s memory, we are creating a scholarship for graduating Volcano Vista students, beginning with the class of 2023 (the last class he taught). There will be no GPA requirement for the scholarship. Any student seeking post-secondary education will be eligible (as Doug struggled in high school himself—an inclusive scholarship open to all students seems the best way to honor him!)

The family will be paying a scholarship management company to assist with applications and fund dispersal, and matching donations up to $3,000.

The rest of the funds will go directly to funding the scholarships. We hope to grant at least $1,000 a year to the finalist but would be honored to grant multiple scholarships in larger amounts if funds allow.

Coming Soon

We have begun establishing a 501 (c) (3) charity for tax-exempt donations. We will share more once that process is complete and hope that you will consider an annual gift to help fund this scholarship for many years to come.

Thank you for reading and for your contributions to Doug’s memory!