Previous Scholarship Winners

2023 Recipients

College

Grace Jacobsen - Grace majored in mathematics education with a minor in Spanish at Washington State University and is working toward her Masters in Teaching degree. She has volunteered in summer school programs and provided tutoring services for students and intends to work with secondary students.

Brady Johnson - Over the next two years, Brady will be working toward a Bachelor of Science degree and a master’s in teaching at Washington State University. In his spare time he supports others through tutoring and volunteers with youth soccer camp. He was also a recipient of the Rita Lowe Scholarship in 2022.

Madison Stevens - Madison is a Washington State University graduate with a degree in mathematics and a minor in psychology. After working in a variety of educational settings, she is pursuing her master’s in teaching. She is a WSU Noyce Scholar, which is focused on helping all students see themselves as math thinkers and doers, and she also received the Rita Lowe Scholarship in 2018.

2022 Recipients

College

Emily Eichholtz - Emily is a student at Highline College and will become an elementary teacher. Her interest in working with younger students developed through participation in her high school Teacher’s Academy and volunteering with the King County Library System.

Brady Johnson - Brady is a Math Education major at Washington State University. In his spare time he supports others through tutoring and volunteers with youth soccer camp. 

Ethan Rocklin - Ethan is pursuing Mathematics and STEM degrees through Central Washington University. He is the Secretary of the Teach STEM Club at CWU, as well as a Residence Assistant and mathematics tutor with a local service.

Professional Development

Angela Ensminger - Angela is a mathematics specialist at St. Madeleine Sophie, a PK-8 school in Bellevue. She will apply her scholarship to attend the Park City Mathematics Institute, where she will learn new math pedagogy and how to apply it in the classroom.

2021 Recipients

High School

Alexandria Kneipp - Alexandria will be valedictorian of her graduating class at Washougal High School and will attend Clark College in the fall. She has been involved in a variety of activities, including band, tennis, American Sign Language, National Honor Society, and tutoring in mathematics. One of her teachers wrote, "Alexandria is in the top 1% of all around excellence in all of my teaching career."

College

Jocelyn Celis Torres - Jocelyn graduated from Davis High School in Yakima and is currently a student at Heritage University working toward becoming a middle school mathematics teacher. She has received numerous academic achievement awards, volunteers in her community, and is the first member of her family to attend college. 

Kaila Ebeling - Kaila graduated from high school in Irvine, California. She is majoring in Integrated Studies with a concentration in mathematics at Seattle Pacific University where she is a member of the cheer team and a teaching assistant for a College Readiness Math Class.

Tirzah Joy Small - Tirzah completed her undergraduate program at Indiana University East and is now completing her Masters' program at Seattle Pacific University as a Master Teacher of Math/Science. She is completing an internship at Quilcene High School and has been a teaching assistant for an Elementary Differential Equation Course, along with volunteering for an after-school early education program and playing flute in a community orchestra.

Veronica Black - Veronica is a graduate of Federal Way High School and is currently enrolled at Seattle Pacific University. She is majoring in Integrated Studies with a concentration in mathematics and plans to teach middle school.

PROFESSIONAL

Anne Gallagher -- Anne is an educational consultant and Continuous Improvement Partner with OSPI and a 2019 Rita Lowe Scholarship awardee. She is currently completing her initial administrative license with Portland State University and funds will support her practicum STEM project with Skamania School titled "The Columbia Gorge Is Our Classroom: Exploring Mathematics and Data Science in STEM Field Experiences."

Eric Partridge -- Eric is a third grade teacher in the Seattle Public Schools and was a 2020 Rita Lowe Scholarship awardee. Scholarship funds will be used to cover registration costs to four math conferences and workshops to further his professional growth in mathematics teaching and learning.

Maci Nelson - Maci is a middle school mathematics teacher in the Seattle Public Schools who is completing her Masters' of Education capstone project, titled "A Qualitative Study: The Importance of Teacher-Led Professional Development for Impacting theStudent Achievement Gap."

2020 Recipients

High School

Karina Gonzalez -- Karina is from Eastmont High School in East Wenatchee and will be attending the University of Washington where she intends to major in mathematics education. Her interest in teaching has led her to serve as a mentor, math tutor, a catechism teacher for her church, an elementary teaching assistant as part of an internship class, and a childcare supervisor for the parent teacher organization. 

College

Megan Ohms -- Megan is a recent graduate of Eastern Washington University beginning her Master of Teaching program at the University of Washington to become endorsed in secondary mathematics and English Language Learning.

Joanna Schroeder -- As a student at Western Washington University, Joanna has been a Future Woodring Scholar and Western Leadership Scholar. In addition to tutoring students in a summer Algebra class and English Language Learner classes, she designed and led a French tutoring class for two years in high school.

Professional Development

Valerie Garcia -- Valerie is a teacher in the Wapato School District. She is a National Board Candidate seeking certification in Mathematics--Adolescence and Young Adulthood while pursuing her master’s degree. Valerie is currently a Math Fellow in her region, as well.

Eric Partridge -- Eric teaches math and science to two fourth/fifth split classes of students. Funds will be used to support his attendance at the Elementary Mathematics Laboratory at the University of Michigan as part of the TeachingWorks Summer Institute.

Kathy Scribner -- Kathy is a first grade teacher in Thorp School District and is pursuing National Board Certification as an Early Childhood Generalist. Part of her Component 4 focus is on leveraging research-based fact fluency practices to improve student understanding. Kathy is also a Math Fellow in her region.

Nicole Smith -- Nicole is a teacher in the Ritzville School District. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in learning and technology with Western Governors University where her capstone project centers around technology use in high school geometry. 

2019 Recipients

High School

Katie Gage — Katie attends University High School in Spokane. She will attend Eastern Washington University after graduation, where she is already in her second year of taking mathematics education courses through dual enrollment. Katie also works as a youth leader helping children with homework and leading activities before and after school with her local YMCA.

Maya Ozanich — Maya is currently a student at Selah High School and has been accepted to Washington State University as Top Scholar (top 10% of high school admissions). She is part of her high school math team, a peer tutor in mathematics, captain of dance, swim, and track teams, and a swim instructor at two local pools.

Madeline Sweeney — Madeline attends Ocosta High School, where she is cheer captain, a class officer, active in various clubs, and serves as a peer mentor in mathematics. As a member of the Ocosta Math Team, she has participated in the WSMC High School Math Contest at the regional and state levels and received the Academic Excellence Award from Central Washington University for her exceptional work in the College in the High School Program in mathematics. Madeline will attend Western Washington University.

Victoria Thornton — Victoria has maintained a 3.99 (4.37 weighted) GPA at Heritage High School in Vancouver. She is a peer tutor in mathematics, earned her Girl Scout Gold Award for developing a STEM-focused community program for low-income middle school youth, and works with fifth grade students as part of STEM Academy. Outside of mathematics, Victoria is active in her church youth ministry, serves as drum major for Heritage’s band, and is an officer in FBLA. She will attend Seattle Pacific University.

College

Megan Ohms — Megan is a post-baccalaureate student Eastern Washington University and will be enrolling in the Masters in Teaching program. With a minor in Spanish, she has worked as an ELL para educator at the high school level and is currently an EWU teaching assistant in a course for struggling math students.. She has mentored through Big Brothers/Big Sisters and on the Lummi Indian Reservation, serves on the Chelan Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, and is interning with a YMCA after-school program.

Joely Stodden — Joely currently attends Olympic College but will be enrolling at Central Washington University in the fall. She is a graduate of Bremerton High School where she was captain of the drill/dance team and recipient of several math awards. Joely intends to teach high school mathematics.

Alexa Sweeney — Alexa attended Western Washington University for her undergraduate work where she peer tutored in mathematics and is now enrolled at Western Governors University to complete her Master’s in Teaching. While enrolled, she is teaching a period of 7th grade math and substituting at the middle and high school levels. Alexa graduated as valedictorian of Ocosta High School, where she was a member of the math team as well as participating in Knowledge Bowl, FBLA, cheer, volleyball, and fast pitch.

Professional Development

Anne Gallagher — Anne is the Director of Teaching and Learning for the Olympia School District. Funds will be used to support development of a series of five Algebra I-related lessons using the Splash! app to build mathematical models of real life events. Upon completion, the lessons will be open source and presented at the Northwest Mathematics Conference.

Alexandra Putnam — Alexandra is a teacher of mathematics at Sumner High School and will use the funds to pursue National Board Certification. As a college student, Alexandra was the recipient of the Rita Lowe Scholarship in 2015.

Kasey Ward — Kasey is a math teacher at Davenport High School and a Math Fellow in her region. Funds will be used to support tuition for a Master of Science–Math Education degree at Montana State University.

2018 Recipients

HS Candidate: Madison Stevens

Madison attends Mead HS and is graduating with a 4.0 while taking rigorous courses, volunteering at food banks, and playing tennis.

College Candidate: Haley Buck

Haley attends WSU-Vancouver and is a Battle Ground High School graduate. She maintains a 3.94 GPA, was a National Honors Society officer in high school, volunteered regularly and tutored in mathematics her senior year.

PD Candidate: Ryan Seidel

Ryan is a Math and Technology Specialist in the East Valley School District (Spokane). He will use the funds toward his dissertation research credits at WSU as he pursues his Mathematics Education Ph.D on completes his dissertation on ways teachers adapt curriculum resources.

PD Candidate: Christopher Piasecki

Christopher teaches middle school in Mount Vernon and is pursuing a masters degree in Math and Math Education through Montana State University via a distance learning program.

PD Candidate: Kelley Sue Lattimer

Kelley is a fifth grade math teacher in Toppenish pursuing National Board Certification as a Middle Childhood Generalist.

2017 Recipients

College Candidate: Cameron Raber

For the third year in a row, Cameron is a recipient of the Rita Lowe Scholarship.Now a Junior, Cameron continues to maintain a 4.0 GPA at PLU. She works as a mathematics tutor for the Academic Assistance Center, is a Mathlete Coach at a local middle school, and received outstanding recommendations from three of her professors.

2016 Recepients

HS Candidate: Brianna Warner

Brianna will graduate this spring from Naches HS and plans to attend Seattle Pacific University in the fall. She has maintained a 4.0 GPA while taking calculus, physics, and multiple AP courses. In addition she is FCCLA president, drum major, tennis captain, and a volunteer math tutor.

College Candidate 1: Cameron Raber

Cameron was a recipient of the high school level Rita Lowe Scholarship last year and has continued her course of excellence in college, maintaining a 4.0 at Pacific Lutheran University. Interested in teaching at the high school level, she currently tutors in mathematics and is an intramural soccer captain.

College Candidate 2: Cassianna Busch

Cassianna is originally from Bremerton and has completed a two-year degree through Olympic College. She is currently enrolled at Whitworth, where she is a double math and physics major. She is interested in teaching high school students and serves as a physics tutor and has taught camps at the Mobius Science Center in Spokane in the summer. She is also a resident assistant and competes in varsity level track and cross country. After completing her double majors this spring she intends to enroll in a Master of Teaching program to achieve teaching certification.

2015 Recipients

HS Division–Cameron Raber

Port Angeles HS, 4.0 GPA, plans to attend PLU, captain of soccer and track teams, volunteer math tutor

College Division–Katie Hayward

WSU and Honors College (Auburn Mountainview HS graduate), 3.988 GPA, published in research journal, student leader in campus Christian organization and mentor to freshmen girls in dorm

College Division—Alexandra Putnam

WSU (Tacoma Washington HS graduate), 3.89 GPA, athletic scholar, volunteer with elderly and Special Olympics, National Leadership recognition and as female in STEM degree, certified nurse assistant

Professional Development–Kristin Peters

Evergreen SD, 4th grade teacher, in PSU Elementary Math Teachers graduate certificate program, math PD over past few years includes First Steps, DMI, and MEC work with Ruth Parker