View from the Hill: Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - Teaching is something Gracie Goode has always wanted to do.

“I really, really love working with students. I saw my mom do it every day and I lived at school and I just knew that was something I could do and do well,” said Goode.

Goode comes from a line of Western Kentucky University alum with her mother and stepmother also having their degrees from WKU.

Now Goode is close to receiving her degree. She is spending her last semester student teaching at Drakes Creek Middle School.

“My mentor teacher is amazing. He lets me take over class a lot and I get to practice my teaching,” said Goode.

Then she has one more assignment before picking up her diploma, which is a month-long stint in Barcelona.

“I feel really confident going abroad and being able to teach because we’re gonna be teaching English assistance, so I won’t have my own class or anything, but I’ll be assisting English instruction,” Goode.

She says it’s an experience that wouldn’t have been possible if she hadn’t received the Benjamin A. Gilman International scholarship.

“I never really thought that I would study abroad, but I just saw the opportunity, saw it advertised for WKU and I was like that is an opportunity that I cannot pass up,” said Goode.

She joins the list of 291 WKU students who have earned more than $1 million dollars in Gilman Scholarships, according to WKU’s Office of Scholar Development.

Gracie is thrilled to use her international student teaching experience in her teaching career, making sure to tell students there’s a whole world out there beyond what they currently know.

“I just really love interacting with students and hearing their experiences and just knowing that I’m a positive force in their life just as much as they are a positive force in mind,” said Goode.

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