ROCK HILL, S.C. — Beginning Thursday, August 23, high school seniors across South Carolina will be able to apply online for one of the state’s most prestigious scholarships geared to attract teachers.

The Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement (CERRA) will launch the South Carolina Teaching Fellows application on its Web site at 8:00 a.m. Thursday. Students can complete the application, which will be open until November 1, by visiting www.cerra.org and following the “Apply Online” link on the home page.

The Teaching Fellows Program came into existence in 1999 when the South Carolina General Assembly, recognizing the shortage of teachers in our State, funded the Teaching Fellows Program in South Carolina for the first time. Each year the program identifies talented high school seniors to receive the scholarship. To date, nearly 1,400 Fellowships have been awarded out of a total of almost 5,000 applications. The $6,000 annual scholarships provide students with up to $5,700 toward the cost of attending the teacher education programs and up to $300 for enrichment programs each year. Students agree to teach in South Carolina public schools for each year they receive funding.

Recipients of the Teaching Fellows scholarship must attend one of the 11 sponsoring colleges or universities. The program is available at the following institutions: Anderson, Charleston Southern, College of Charleston, Columbia College, Furman, Lander, Newberry, USC-Columbia, USC-Upstate, South Carolina State and Winthrop.

CERRA, an independent state agency located on the campus of Winthrop University, is the oldest and most established teacher recruitment program in the country. The purpose of CERRA is to provide leadership in identifying, attracting, placing and retaining well-qualified individuals for the teaching profession in South Carolina. CERRA’s programs have been adopted at school, district and state levels in more than 30 states across the United States.