Diane Gillen Future Educator Scholarship Award

Scholarship for future educators

The Diane Gillen Future Educator Scholarship Award 

Deadline: March 7, 2025

In 2020, the Diane Gillen Future Educator Award was established, through the APS Foundation, and scholarship hosts Jill and Joseph Cannon, family of Diane Gillen.

This scholarship was created in honor of Diane Gillen, who was a passionate and gifted teacher for APS for 20 years. She taught English, Social Studies, and History at Sandia, Manzano, Del Norte, and La Cueva High Schools. Most of her teaching career was spent at Del Norte and La Cueva. She made lifelong friends at all of these schools. She also had such a positive impact on her students that until her death, many of her former students who would run into her would thank her and tell her what an impact she made on their lives. Her many friends voiced the same opinion. Diane also loved to read and was a lifelong learner herself. She belonged to a book club, which included many of the friends she had made while teaching. In her time off, Diane loved to travel the world with her husband of 56 years, whom she met during her last year at UC Berkeley, where they both graduated.

The Diane Gillen Future Educator Award will be available for graduating students at all APS traditional high schools.

The scholarship will be selected in March/April and awarded prior to graduation, and at the high school and honors assembly.

The scholarship will be given each year to a student who has the intent to move on to an education beyond high school at a four-year college or University, with a focus on a career in education. 

The scholarship is for students who have demonstrated passion and strong commitment to pursue a career in education. Academic performance will be considered, with a minimum GPA of 3.0. Consideration of financial need will be weighted on the decision but not a requirement.

The scholarship will be awarded in the amount of $1,000 - $1,500 for one recipient annually.

The scholarship recipient each year will be decided via an application process. Students are to use the application created by the scholarship host (donor). The application will be collected and vetted by the schools College and Career counselors before going before a committee/panel of retired APS educators for final review and scholarship recipient choice.

 

This page was last updated on: February 27, 2023.