Why Gifts Matter: Darla Buchanan Scholarship Creates Educational, Study Abroad Opportunities for Teaching Fellow Kaiya Connor

When Kaiya Connor and her classmates graduated from the fifth grade, each one of them wrote down on a tiny star what they wanted to be when they grew up. 

“I wrote: ‘Teacher,'” said Connor, an elementary education major and N.C. Teaching Fellow.

In high school, Connor’s interest in the profession began to wane — or, at least, it did until she took an early childhood education class her senior year.

“That was my first time teaching, and I loved it,” Connor said. “It was my favorite class.”

The NC State College of Education was the only school she had applied to as an education major—and a visit to the college’s Showcase for admitted students confirmed she was making the right choice, as did receiving the Darla Buchanan Scholarship, a need-based scholarships for students pursuing an undergraduate degree in elementary education.

“There was a little bit of doubt if this was the right thing,” Connor said. “It helped that someone saw something in me. It gave me a little bit more confidence.”

In addition to providing needed financial support, the Darla Buchanan Scholarship also made it possible for Connor to study abroad. She spent Fall 2024 at the Lorenzo de’ Medici Institute in Florence, Italy. 

“I knew I wanted to study abroad, but cost is a big thing,” Connor said. “This scholarship is the main reason I was able to do that.” 

As part of her coursework, Connor toured Florence’s palaces, was introduced to the films of Federico Fellini, discovered how to cook dishes that rivaled what she could order at a restaurant and spent her free time watching the Arno River flow by. 

Even more than that, Connor developed a global view of education that she can apply to her future classroom. 

“I had to adapt to being in a different culture,” she said. “I’m going to have students from all over the world, so since I have experience doing that, it will be easier for me to make them comfortable.”

Since her return to North Carolina, Connor has been able to build on what she learned abroad through her first elementary education class, ELM 250: Introduction to Elementary Education in a Global Society, in which she’s learned lessons about effective teaching, classroom management styles, building interpersonal relationships with students and creating a positive school climate. 

“I feel like even just in that one class, I’ve been able to learn so much about how to be an effective teacher,” she said

Connor, a member of the Wake County Public School System’s Future Teachers program, will return to the county to teach upon graduation. Her goal is to teach at the same elementary school in Holly Springs where she grew up. 

“Elementary school is really where how you feel about school starts, so making sure they start off on a good note has a big impact for the rest of their K-12 career,” Connor said.