Madison Mobley '25

The Watson College is pleased to announce that Madison Mobley ’25 has received a spring 2025 Hattie M. Strong Scholarship award. Madison is from Richlands, North Carolina. She will graduate in May with a degree in Elementary Education, a double concentration in Behavioral Studies and Fine Arts, and a minor in Dance.

Madison said she chose to become a teacher because she wants to make a difference in students’ lives while advocating for change in the educational system in order to better support future learners. She chose UNCW’s Watson College of Education because of the opportunities made available through the program and the rich community and support provided.

Madison is in the UNCW Honors College and has worked for the Office of Admissions as a Campus Tour Guide for four years. She is also a member of the UNCW Dance Company, serving as the fundraising chair, and a member of the educational honors society, Kappa Delta Pi.

As an honors student, she completed an undergraduate thesis last year titled, In Our Backyard: North Carolina Preservice Teachers’ Conceptual Understanding of Local Book Banning.

“All of the amazing professors at UNCW have helped shape me into the future educator I am today,” she said. “I am especially grateful for the support of my thesis advisor, Dr. Caitlin Ryan, and my science methods teacher, Dr. Lynn Sikma. Their passion for educators is contagious, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from them.”

Madison is currently completing her internship in a fourth grade classroom at Murrayville Elementary School, and said she is grateful to have received a Hattie M. Strong Scholarship award during her final semester.   

“Receiving the Hattie M. Strong scholarship means the world to me and my family,” she said. “It means that I am able to focus wholeheartedly on my internship and grow as an educator without financial stress.”

About the Hattie M. Strong Scholarship Awards

The Hattie M. Strong Foundation has helped aspiring students achieve a college degree since 1928. Today, HMSF’s primary activity is to provide scholarships for students enrolled in teacher training programs at partnering institutions to help reduce financial pressure during the student internship semester, when a student’s ability to offset expenses with outside employment is curtailed by the rigor of full-time work in the classroom.

The Watson College joined a select group of institutions as a Hattie M. Strong Foundation partner in 2013. This valuable partnership enabled the College to award four $5,000 Hattie M. Strong scholarships to WCE interns for the spring 2025 semester.