AMHERST — From the age of 7, Kimberly Pfeifer knew she wanted to be a teacher. Over the years, she has gone from teaching fractions to her sister on a whiteboard to teaching English overseas.
After traveling the world to teach, Pfeifer has settled at the University of Massachusetts to pursue a doctoral teaching degree, with the help of a $10,000 scholarship.
This is the inaugural year of the Aspiring Educator Scholarship Initiative, created by Motivis Learning, an education technology startup in Salem, New Hampshire.
The company received 146 essay applications from undergraduate, graduate and Ph.D. students at 91 colleges and universities across the country. After the applicant pool was narrowed down, all 55 employees at Motivis Learning voted on a winner.
Pfeifer’s international accomplishments, goals for education reform and dedication to making an impact on students impressed the staff at Motivis.
At the University of Illinois, Pfeifer received an undergraduate degree in English and her secondary education and teaching credentials. She then traveled to South Korea for one year, where she taught English as a foreign language to elementary, middle school and high school students.
After South Korea, Pfeifer lived in Israel for four years, where she worked toward her master’s at Tel Aviv University. While in Israel, Pfeifer taught English language arts and social studies to middle school students.
As part of the practicum for her master’s, she also taught very basic English to adults during night classes in Tel Aviv.
This summer, Pfeifer relocated from Israel to Amherst, where she is working on a doctoral degree in the department of teacher education and curriculum studies, with a concentration in children, families and schools.
“It’s the first time that I’ve been able to breathe,” she said about receiving the $10,000 scholarship. “Having this just allows me to focus on why I’m here.”
After graduating from UMass, Pfeifer sees herself opening a charter middle school in California, her home state. The freedom to train teachers is one of the reasons why charter schools are so appealing to her.
Pfeifer hopes to use the Motivis scholarship money to travel to New Orleans, where public schools made the transition to charter schools after Hurricane Katrina. There, Pfeifer wants to learn more about the process of writing a charter.
In modern times, Pfeifer believes it is important for teachers to help students learn not only the curriculum, but also how to collaborate with others.
“You really need teachers who care more about the students than the curriculum,” she said.
Pfeifer accepted the scholarship money on Friday in the Integrative Learning Center at UMass. After receiving so many promising applications, Motivis Learning decided to also award two runners-up, who will be announced publicly on April 4.
“I’m just so thankful for Motivis for being here and telling me that my story was valuable,” Pfeifer said.
Motivis Learning hopes to continue this new scholarship program in coming years.