When I decided to apply for the Kenan Fellows Program this\nyear, I wasn\u2019t sure what I was getting myself into. The KFP felt like an\nabstraction out of my reach, a well-revered fellowship program for STEM\nteachers in North Carolina with an elite group of alumni who have gone on to\ncollect accolades and accomplish great things within and beyond our state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I thought about the application process, I reflected on\nhow I would be following in the footsteps of the great teachers who have come\nbefore me. Doubts grew in my head. Am I a good teacher, really? Do I really\nstand a chance at getting this fellowship? Will I be able to fill the shoes of\na Kenan Fellow? Do I deserve this opportunity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But then again, I\u2019ve always suffered from a little bit of\nimposter syndrome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The noise in my head was loud, but I took a chance and\napplied anyway, seeking support from my professional network along the way. I found\nout in March that I was invited for an interview, which seemed like a step in\nthe right direction. I was hopeful but wasn\u2019t holding on to hope, because I\ndidn\u2019t want to be disappointed if it fell through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, the pandemic hit. School shut down. My classroom was\nempty. I started working and teaching from home, and my life as a teacher was\nupended. Time flew as I made it through the weeks, grasping to Zoom calls and\nGoogle Classroom assignments and holding on to a semblance of normalcy in our\nnew digital world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early May, I heard the news that I had been selected as a\n2020-21 Kenan Fellow. When I got the congratulatory email I was excited and\noverwhelmed, and to be honest, it still doesn\u2019t feel very real. It still hasn\u2019t\nsunken in, and I\u2019m still asking myself the same questions I\u2019ve had since I started\nthe application process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I am Emily Felker, a 2020-21 Kenan Fellow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, what DO I hope to gain from my fellowship experience,\nanyway? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On a professional level, I\u2019m hoping that the connections I\nmake at the industry and university level will bridge the divide between my\nclassroom and the real world of science. I\u2019m hoping that the words \u2018Kenan\nFellow\u2019 behind my name will help my words, as a young teacher, hold more power.\nI\u2019m hoping that I walk away from this experience as a more knowledgeable, more\nequitable, more impactful teacher in my classroom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On a personal level, I\u2019m hoping that this experience will\nboost my confidence as an educator and help me to feel a sense of\naccomplishment and pride in my own ability. I\u2019m hoping that the imposter in me\nwill quiet down and allow the inborn teacher in me to shine a little brighter\nand speak a little louder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am keeping my fingers crossed. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I decided to apply for the Kenan Fellows Program this year, I wasn\u2019t sure what I was getting myself into. The KFP felt like an abstraction out of my reach, a well-revered fellowship program for STEM teachers in North Carolina with an elite group of alumni who have gone on to collect accolades and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":627,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2020-21-kfp-blog-prompt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.kenanfellows.org\/2021-efelker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.kenanfellows.org\/2021-efelker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.kenanfellows.org\/2021-efelker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.kenanfellows.org\/2021-efelker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/627"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.kenanfellows.org\/2021-efelker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/old.kenanfellows.org\/2021-efelker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19,"href":"https:\/\/old.kenanfellows.org\/2021-efelker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions\/19"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.kenanfellows.org\/2021-efelker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.kenanfellows.org\/2021-efelker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.kenanfellows.org\/2021-efelker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}