{"id":105323,"date":"2019-12-12T10:04:49","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T15:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=105323"},"modified":"2021-06-04T08:34:29","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T12:34:29","slug":"98-science-and-math-teachers-earn-free-masters-degrees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/98-science-and-math-teachers-earn-free-masters-degrees\/","title":{"rendered":"98 Science and Math Teachers Earn Free Master\u2019s Degrees"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elementary school teacher Kimberly Rougeux \u201901<\/strong> has had her sights set on getting a master\u2019s degree for as long as she can remember. But as a full-time teacher and a busy foster parent, she struggled to find the time and resources. That all changed two years ago when she opened an email from Orange County Public Schools sharing news about a program that offered teachers a graduate degree at UCF at no cost. She knew at that moment she\u2019d found a way to make it work.<\/p>\n

Rougeux is one of 20 OCPS teachers who will graduate this week with a Master of Education in K-8 Mathematics and Science<\/a>, returning to their classrooms with the latest strategies for teaching elementary and middle school students. An additional 78 Orange County teachers remain in the program and will graduate during the next two years.<\/p>\n

What Rougeux and her fellow teachers in the program won\u2019t have at graduation is any educational debt. An endowment from Lockheed Martin and funding from OCPS cover tuition and fees for the master\u2019s degree program, which was designed to bolster science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, retain current teachers and build the talent pipeline.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis program is incredibly vital in filling the intense need for capable STEM teachers in Florida and across the nation,\u201d says Tom Mirek, a vice president of engineering and technology at Lockheed Martin. \u201cLockheed Martin invests in master\u2019s degrees for educators because we believe in the power of teachers to inspire the next generation of students who will become tomorrow\u2019s engineers, scientists and technologists that\u2019ll shape the future of our world for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Rougeux, a fifth grade teacher at Lake Como School, the dream of getting a graduate degree seemed financially out of reach. She has fostered 11 children in the last five years, ranging from infants she cared for less than a week to siblings who lived with her for two years. \u201cI could not have afforded to pay a babysitter and take classes,\u201d says Rougeux, who is in the process of adopting a 4-year-old boy she\u2019s been fostering.<\/p>\n