Future Bilingual Teachers Eligible For Scholarships

ELGIN—Elgin Community College will receive a $1.25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to train bilingual students to become bilingual teachers. College President Michael Shirley announced the grant during the college board of trustees meeting Tuesday night.

The college expects to receive the first $250,000 installment of the five-year Project Step grant in August.

The money will pay full tuition for about 100 bilingual high school and college students who promise to major in bilingual education, said Polly Nash, dean of business and program development for the college.

Nash said students at Harper College, Northern Illinois University, Elgin Community College, Palatine Township High School District 211, Carpentersville-based Community Unit District 300 and Elgin-based Unit District 46 are eligible for the scholarships.

She said colleges and schools have had to recruit foreign nationals to fill the demand for bilingual instructors.

“There’s such a need,” Nash said. “We’re trying to grow our own.”

ECC is in the last year of another four-year grant program from the U.S. Department of Education. It received a $1 million Escalara grant to train teachers aides, volunteers and teachers at local high schools.

“I was ecstatic,” Nash said of learning that the college was awarded the Project Step grant.



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