APH Scholar Program

by Carmen Willings
June 6, 2019
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com

​Each year, since 2003, each of the approximate 155 Ex Officio Trustees (EOT’s) throughout the United States are asked to nominate someone whom they feel provides outstanding service in their area. The scholarships are for first-time attendees to come to Louisville in October for the APH Annual Meeting as guests of APH. APH pays for all expenses in attending the conference including transportation to the meeting, conference registration, and hotel accommodations.
Each nominee must submit a formal letter of intent that includes:
  • A description of the benefits the nominee will receive from attending the APH annual meeting.
  • Specific APH products used in the nominee’s professional life and how they use them.
  • Creative ways of product application (“outside of the box” use of APH products).
  • Methods the nominee use to encourage the use of APH products with students and/or among peers.
  • Specific ways in which the nominee will disseminate information obtained at the APH Annual Meeting to peers and colleagues.

Members of the APH Educational Services Advisory Committee (ESAC) are challenged with the task of selecting five of the nominations. Applications are scored on the above criteria to determine selection for attendance at the APH Annual Meeting. Many of our Scholars have gone on to become EOTs, to be recognized by their peers as outstanding teachers, and to receive other awards and accolades.

Beginning in 2016, APH offered the opportunity for two of the previous year Scholars to participate in the spring meetings. Selected Scholars are expected to attend all meetings of the committee, sitting in on presentations and dialogs with APH staff. Scholars will participate in the building of the committee reports, with commendations and recommendations provided for APH.  also, each Scholar is asked to prepare a short report with reflections on the experience and two or three additional “take away” thoughts. APH assigns one Scholar to each of the two committees for the duration of the meeting.

My APH Experience

In 2018 I was honored to be nominated by Carson Cochran, Ex Officio Trustee (pictured below top left), and program manager of the Georgia Instructional Materials Center. I was selected as one of the five 2018 APH Scholars. Fellow 2018 APH scholars included Yvonne Franz, Krystal Guillory, Donna Hultman, and Eric Shaw. 
In February 2019, the 2018 APH scholars were contacted about our interest in further participation. I applied and was accepted to attend and participate in the spring EPAC/ESAC meetings along with Donna Hultman and Eric Shaw. We were tasked with providing APH with feedback on how to engage teachers, the scholar experience, unique networking, collaboration, and identifying issues and needs in the field.