Future Teachers of KY Honoring Helen Caise Wade
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Kentucky needs more teachers and more teachers of color!
Teachers for Equitable Kentucky Schools in collaboration with the Wade family seeks to put more students of color on the path to being educators in Kentucky. This is our initial fundraising effort for an Endowed Scholarship at the University of Kentucky. The name of the scholarship will be Future Teachers of Kentucky Honoring Helen Caise Wade.
Helen Casie Wade is an inspiration to all. She was the first African American student to integrate Fayette County Public Schools in 1955. She attended Lafayette High School’s summer school. Mrs. Wade went on to be a teacher and was the first black woman on her school's staff. You can read more about her experience here.
Several news outlets covered her return to Lafayette high school 61 years later:
Fox56
The Herald-Leader
Our Goal
We believe everyone should know the amazing story of Helen Caise Wade, and that all students will benefit from having teachers of color. To fund an endowed scholarship we need to raise 50,000 dollars.
As for how much to give, give what you can! Every single dollar has a profound impact on a future teacher and Kentucky Schools. Whatever you give will continue to provide scholarship money to students for as long as The University of Kentucky exists. One small step toward equity in our public schools.
Here’s a few details to motivate your giving:
$1-12: What grade did you have your favorite teacher? Give that amount.
$19: June 19th is Jubilee, Freedom Day, celebrating the end of slavery.
$40: symbolically referencing the 40 Acres and a Mule, reparations given to heads of black families after the Civil War that were then taken away by Andrew Johnson during reconstruction. Wealth that did not pass from generation to generation.
$80: 80% of teachers are white, nationally. In Fayette County, 88.3% are white.
$158: Number of years since the Emancipation Proclamation.
$244: Number of years of slavery in the British Colonies and the United States of America.
$750: 750,000 African American’s migrated to the north for economic opportunities and to flee the terrors of the south at the turn of the 20th Century, during what is referred to as The Great Migration during the Jim Crow Era. This contributed to the Harlem Renaissance and many other major cities’ cultural growth.
$1,303: The number of white US Senators in the history of the United States minus the 11 African American US Senators that have served our country in the senate.
$2,250: Approximately the size of the scholarship awarded each year to a student of color who wants to be a teacher after we fully-fund this scholarship!
About Teachers for Equitable Kentucky Schools
Teachers for Equitable Kentucky Schools’ vision is for all students to understand the complex social fabric of our country and world to be engaged and knowledgeable members of the community by graduation. We believe this is vital to academic success in addition to their emotional, mental, and physical well-being. We believe that structural change in schools across Kentucky is needed to achieve these values. We hope you’ll join us in making that possible!
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out!
Teachers for Equitable Kentucky Schools in collaboration with the Wade family seeks to put more students of color on the path to being educators in Kentucky. This is our initial fundraising effort for an Endowed Scholarship at the University of Kentucky. The name of the scholarship will be Future Teachers of Kentucky Honoring Helen Caise Wade.
Helen Casie Wade is an inspiration to all. She was the first African American student to integrate Fayette County Public Schools in 1955. She attended Lafayette High School’s summer school. Mrs. Wade went on to be a teacher and was the first black woman on her school's staff. You can read more about her experience here.
Several news outlets covered her return to Lafayette high school 61 years later:
Fox56
The Herald-Leader
Our Goal
We believe everyone should know the amazing story of Helen Caise Wade, and that all students will benefit from having teachers of color. To fund an endowed scholarship we need to raise 50,000 dollars.
As for how much to give, give what you can! Every single dollar has a profound impact on a future teacher and Kentucky Schools. Whatever you give will continue to provide scholarship money to students for as long as The University of Kentucky exists. One small step toward equity in our public schools.
Here’s a few details to motivate your giving:
$1-12: What grade did you have your favorite teacher? Give that amount.
$19: June 19th is Jubilee, Freedom Day, celebrating the end of slavery.
$40: symbolically referencing the 40 Acres and a Mule, reparations given to heads of black families after the Civil War that were then taken away by Andrew Johnson during reconstruction. Wealth that did not pass from generation to generation.
$80: 80% of teachers are white, nationally. In Fayette County, 88.3% are white.
$158: Number of years since the Emancipation Proclamation.
$244: Number of years of slavery in the British Colonies and the United States of America.
$750: 750,000 African American’s migrated to the north for economic opportunities and to flee the terrors of the south at the turn of the 20th Century, during what is referred to as The Great Migration during the Jim Crow Era. This contributed to the Harlem Renaissance and many other major cities’ cultural growth.
$1,303: The number of white US Senators in the history of the United States minus the 11 African American US Senators that have served our country in the senate.
$2,250: Approximately the size of the scholarship awarded each year to a student of color who wants to be a teacher after we fully-fund this scholarship!
About Teachers for Equitable Kentucky Schools
Teachers for Equitable Kentucky Schools’ vision is for all students to understand the complex social fabric of our country and world to be engaged and knowledgeable members of the community by graduation. We believe this is vital to academic success in addition to their emotional, mental, and physical well-being. We believe that structural change in schools across Kentucky is needed to achieve these values. We hope you’ll join us in making that possible!
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out!
Fundraising team: Teachers for Equitable KY Schools (9)
Christopher McCurry
Organizer
Raised $2,920 from 50 donations
Lexington, KY
Lauren Sherrow
Team member
Raised $625 from 12 donations
Leslie Davis
Team member
Raised $25 from 1 donation
Lindsay Mccurry
Team member
Raised $25 from 1 donation
Dara Felts
Team member
