Pictured here, from left: Ms. Daisy Seale Moore, Zachariah Hixon, Jaden Jordan, Arianna McWilliams and Kendall Kittrell. Four $1,000 scholarships were awarded to local minority education students through the Ms. Daisy Seale Moore Minority Educator’s Fund. The four students have signed letters of intent to teach in Baldwin County upon their graduations.

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FAIRHOPE — Four scholarships each worth $1,000 were awarded to local students on Thursday, June 30. The scholarships were funded through the newly formed Ms. Daisy Seale Moore Minority Educator's Fund. The scholarships went to minority students who signed letters of intent to teach in Baldwin County upon their graduations.
The first recipients of the scholarship were Zachariah "Zeke" Hixon, who will attend Alabama State University; Jaden Jordan, who will attend Stillman College; Kendal Kittrell, who will attend University of South Alabama; and Arianna McWilliams, who will attend Miles College.
To qualify, the students had to write an essay explaining the value of minority teachers in public education.
According to a release, "Studies report a direct correlation of minority students remaining in school and performing better in class when there are minority teachers and administrators in the school system. In fact, the studies reflect having minority educators improves the experience for all students. All four scholarship recipients cited personal experiences and observations that confirmed these findings."
According to Baldwin County school system employee data from September 2021, minority groups represented 7.17% of total teacher population. Minority groups of all employees represented 9.13% BCBE employee population. System officials noted employee data changes regularly.
"There is a positive community effort underway in Baldwin County public schools to attract and retain additional qualified, dedicated minority educators," the release stated. "This is a cooperative approach by the Baldwin County Public School System Human Resources Department and the community group ACT-II (of Ecumenical Ministries Baldwin County) Minority Teacher Hiring Initiative."
The Ms. Daisy Seale Moore Minority Educator's Scholarship keeps in line with the initiative to attract, recruit and retain minority educators to serve in Baldwin County public schools. The scholarship will be awarded annually.
To learn more about applying or to contribute to the scholarship fund, email Mr. Moore at psalm82.3and4@gmail.com.
Daisy Seale Moore, of Fairhope, taught school for over 30 years, while teaching Hispanic students during the summer months. She also taught at a minority school in Mobile County, before returning to Baldwin County public schools as one of its first K-8 counselors.