Southwestern senior Dylan Hickey is one of three students selected statewide to receive a scholarship from the Texas Association of School Personnel Administrators (TASPA) for the 2010-2011 school year. The scholarship will be presented at the organization’s annual awards luncheon at the DoubleTree Hotel in Austin Dec. 9.

The scholarship honors the best teacher candidates in the state. TASPA represents the recruiting/human resources staff of 340 state school districts.

Hickey will be graduating next May with a major in elementary education. She said she decided to go into teaching because she had some teachers in the past who have shown her what a great teacher can do for a student’s self-esteem and perception of themselves as a learner.

“I want to be able to inspire my students the way my teachers and professors have inspired me,” she said.

Hickey is president of Kappa Delta Pi, the national education honor society, at Southwestern. She also is in Omicron Delta Kappa leadership society and Zeta Tau Alpha sorority. In the past she has been involved with Operation Achievement (an after-school tutoring program for elementary school students) and Georgetown Partners in Education. She also works at Southwestern’s Career Services Office.

This is the 11th year in a row that a student in Southwestern University’s Teacher Certification Program has received a TASPA scholarship.