Alison Hensley Awarded the 2016 LaVerne Noyes Fellowship by UCI Graduate Division

Alison Hensley, Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Candidate, has been awarded the 2016 LaVerne Noyes Fellowship by UCI Graduate Division. 

About Ms. Hensley
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I graduated from Westmont College in 2014 where I fell in love with and majored in two foreign languages: mathematics and Spanish. Although I pursued other vocations throughout college years, by the time I had become a senior, I knew teaching was the career path for me. I have always had a passion for learning and mentoring youth, so education was a perfect fit.

When it came time to apply for schools to obtain my teaching credential, UCI was number one on my list. I had heard amazing things about the education department through relatives and friends who were teachers, and it offered a Master of Arts in Teaching as well, a chance for me to become the best teacher I could be before entering the field. After being accepted into the program, I deferred my enrollment for a year so that I could spend a semester working as the director’s assistant on a study abroad program in Mexico, as well as teach elementary school Spanish at a local charter school in Orange County.

Currently, I am in the middle of getting my secondary mathematics credential and am student teaching at Valley High School in Santa Ana where I am blessed to be able to combine both my passions for Spanish and mathematics, and learn from an incredible mentor teacher.

As part of my research for the Master of Arts in Teaching program, I am studying the application of Krashen’s Theory of Affective Filter to mathematics education, a subject that has long been colloquially considered a foreign language.

As for the future, I hope to one day be in the same position my mentor is, working in a low-SES, Spanish-speaking area to provide the safe community, encouraging environment, and academic rigor that pushes students to be the best person they can be. I also foresee a lot of traveling, out-door adventuring, and perhaps some soccer coaching in my future, but I do not see myself leaving the education field anytime soon because there really is no feeling like helping young men and women develop their natural talents, curiosity, tenacity, courage, responsibility, work ethic, interpersonal skills, and leadership skills, not only in the classroom, but in life.

About the LaVerne Noyes Scholarship
The scholarship is awarded to a recipient who is a United States citizen and is a blood descendant of a United States Army or Navy World War I veteran. The veteran, whose military service was terminated by death or an honorable discharge, must have served for at least four months prior to November 11, 1918.

About LaVerne Noyes 
LaVerne Noyes was born on January 7, 1849, to Leonard R. and Jane Noyes of Genoa, New York. Noyes enrolled at Iowa Agricultural College (Iowa State University) in 1868 and graduated with a B.S. (1872) in general science as a member of Iowa State's first graduating class. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Engineering from Iowa State for the success of his inventions and the promotion of higher education. 

Ida Noyes was born Ida E. Smith on April 16, 1853, to Joel W. and Susan M. Smith in Croton, New York. Ida received her B.S. (1874) from Iowa Agricultural College (Iowa State University). Following her graduation Ida became a teacher. Ida and LaVerne married on May 24, 1877. She and LaVerne moved to Chicago where Ida was able to pursue her interests in the arts. Ida was an active member of the Chicago chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, president of the North Side Art Club for many years, and studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago. Ida died on December 5, 1912.

In 1879, LaVerne sold his hay‐tool business and started a book holder manufacturing company. He continued to patent farming machinery, which he 
sold to implement manufacturers, and his Noyes Dictionary Holder sold modestly well. However, he became interested in manufacturing windmills and in 1887 he started the Aermotor Company in Chicago, Illinois. The Aermotor Company manufactured some of the first steel windmills and became the leading manufacturer of windmills in the country. The company also manufactured the first steel towers used for electrical transmission lines.

During his successful career as an inventor and businessman, Noyes was able to acquire a modest fortune. Using this money, Noyes created a scholarship fund for World War I veterans and their descendants and he also funded the construction of a hall at the University of Chicago, which he named after his late wife, Ida. Noyes enlisted the help of landscape gardener O.C. Simmonds to help beautify the campus of his alma mater. This project resulted in the creation of Lake LaVerne on the Iowa State campus. LaVerne Noyes died on July 24, 1919.  

​[LaVerne Noyes bio courtesy of University of Illinois at Chicago]