West Elementary teacher assistant Elizabeth Golden was awarded a $10,000 scholarship Friday, April 28 at 10:30 a.m. The funds are expected to cover over two-thirds of her tuition as she works on attaining her master’s degree in elementary education at Western Governor’s University (WGU) Tennessee. Kimberly K. Estep, chancellor of WGU Tennessee, presented the award to Golden as part of the 10th year of Tennessee’s Drive to 55 initiative. 

Estep, West Elementary officials and Golden’s colleagues were all on hand for the surprise announcement. Golden had been applying to all scholarships she had available to her, however upon receiving this scholarship noted that it was completely unexpected.  

The Tenn-K Scholarship is the largest scholarship that WGU Tennessee offers. WGU is an accredited, nonprofit educational institution that currently serves over 147,000 students across the country. 4,400 students are enrolled with WGU in Tennessee and nearly 10,000 degrees have been earned at WGU online in the state.

To be eligible for the scholarship, applicants must currently be residents of Tennessee and planning to enter a degree program offered by WGU Tennessee. The deadline for the 2023 scholarship was March 31. The Tenn-K scholarship is one of over 50 that are offered by WGU thanks in part to donors to the nonprofit. The next application date for tuition and financial aid is June 1. In addition to state-based scholarships, WGU also provides regionally-based scholarships and scholarships specifically for rural applicants.