Tuscaloosa Academy History Teacher To Represent Alabama In Prestigious D.C. Fellowship

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Tuscaloosa Academy middle school teacher Jaclyn Foster has been selected to represent the state of Alabama as part of the prestigious James Madison Memorial Fellowship.

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Foster teaches civics, U.S. history and geography. She has also earned a reputation as one of the most beloved educators not just at the private school, but in Alabama, allowing her to pursue educational opportunities of her own that translate back to the classroom.

As Patch previously reported, Foster received a fellowship through National Geographic that saw her travel to the Arctic last year, while the year before she was named Alabama's top history teacher by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

"It is an honor to represent the state of Alabama as a James Madison Fellow," Foster told Patch Tuesday. "I look forward to becoming a constitutional scholar to better serve my students in the classroom and to continue my educational journey at the University of Alabama."

Foster will now spend next summer in Washington, D.C. studying at Georgetown University with constitutional scholars. And while Foster has worked in education for almost two decades, she will now study for the next two years to earn a degree at the University of Alabama to "help strengthen her skills in teaching constitutional and civic education."

The James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation website says it offers $24,000 graduate fellowships to proven individuals and educators interested in high-quality instruction of the U.S. Constitution at the secondary school level.

The foundation offers only one fellowship per state each year.

The James Madison Education Fund Inc. is a non-profit organization founded in 1994 as a partner organization to the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation. Its expressed mission is to encourage the "study of the United States Constitution, its roots, its formation, its principles, and its development."

The James Madison Education Fund Inc. is privately funded through donations.

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