The winner of the latest Kenneth Allen Marcure Scholarship overseas for their teacher training was announced by Brio Multimedia.
The fourth recipient of the Kenneth Allen Marcure Memorial Scholarship is a University of Montana social studies and education student. Timothy Severson spent the Spring semester of 2017 teaching students in Tamil Nadu, India. Timothy, who has minored in Central Southwest Asian Studies, says he wanted to use his time in India to “help break down barriers and negative mindsets in students,” among others. He added, “I would like to meet and talk with teachers from different backgrounds. I am hoping to learn about the skills they employ when teaching students from such varied backgrounds. How do they stay culturally relevant? In turn, I want to learn from the students how studying in such a unique environment has affected their education.”
These annual Scholarships honor Kenneth Allen Marcure, international humanist and educator, who maintained his commitment to international education despite battling ALS (MND/Lou Gehrig’s Disease) for five years. Hailing from Idaho and Montana in the USA, Marcure made it his life work to encourage young people, oppose resource inequity, reduce prejudice, and lower barriers to intercultural understanding and good will. He worked with students in Japan for over 35 years.
“It was Kenneth’s vision to use education to reduce misunderstandings between people from different countries,” a Brio Multimedia spokesperson said. “Supporting young teachers is a particularly effective way to reduce cultural and racial intolerance. In the course of a single professional lifetime, hundreds of young students may have their horizons broadened by a teacher from another culture. To have the opportunity to start their careers with an international training opportunity has been a transformational experience for past scholarship winners.”
“The partner for the past three years has been Kenneth’s undergraduate alma mater, the University of Montana, where Ken’s lifelong commitment to global good citizenship was sparked by the example, among others, of visionary academic and senator, Mike Mansfield. Teaching internships overseas have helped previous awardees better understand other cultures, educational needs in those countries, and the daily discipline of teaching.”
Past awardees have included UM students, Lea Christensen, who successfully completed her student teaching in India in 2015, and Megan Croke, who pursued her teacher training in India during the 2016 academic year.
The inaugural Kenneth Allen Marcure Memorial Scholarship was awarded in 2013 to Tilly Torpey, a student selected by the Director for Education of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe for her academic performance and desire to share her culture with others.
More information about the Kenneth Allen Marcure Scholarship Fund is available at http://www.briofun4good.com .
The Artful Gluffster 