As a Teaching Fellow, I guess I feel a little guilty when it comes to stuff like this. I know that I worked very hard for this scholarship and continue to do so....maybe others do not, but I know many who do and the scholarship was not given to them. Especially since I am a white female, I had to make sure that my school spoke for itself and that I tried my absolute best to do all that I could in high school.
We have to attend two seminars a semester and write a reflection on either one seminar or an event that we participated in during the semester. Like Chaise said we have functions that we must attend. Freshmen are take on a retreat to acquaint them with officers and the directors of the group. We also have to do on a week long trip in the summer known as Discovery to "discover" the state. Our sophomore year we go to DC...this is an App thing and not a statewide requirement. We also have to attend a weekend at a school in the system during July to discuss and learn about issues in teaching. Our junior year entails a service weekend in Greensboro and then usually giving up our spring break for a week with a school system to learn about potential places that we may want to find employment. We have another weekend during July again to learn and discuss about diversity issues and other issues in teaching. We are also required to take extra classes like Chaise said.
While we get a lot of opportunities, these do not come without cost. These expenses are either taken out of the money we get for our scholarship or out of our own pockets to pay for the travel. I had to drive to ECU last summer and did not get any stipend for it. And while I am very grateful for all that I get to do, I probably would not have applied for such a scholarship if I was not in a financial situation already. I work two jobs while being a full-time student and that money is sorely needed for other things. We are also tied down to NC to teach for at least 4 years within 7 years of graduation. Also, if these requirements (seminars, reflections, etc.) are not met, then there is extra work and possible with holding of funds for the next semester.
I fully support the program let me say. As with anything, kinks can be worked out and adjusted though.
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My g/f is actually a teaching fellow. I notice that they have a lot of extra requirements within the teaching fellows program that they have to do. Some of them are pretty cool, like trips to Washington D.C, but others consist of extra classes and volunteer hours that they have to complete to keep the scholarship. But I mean time is money, and they do get money for being a teaching fellow so I don't think I would care that much. From what I can tell they have to take a few classes that get them involved in the schools more, like a practicum where they are in the classroom 6 hours a week, and extra tutoring outside of 3800 that they have to take. So i think they are better prepared than us non-teaching fellows. Just my O.P.P