CEW+ commends Victoria’s persistence in her education as well as her commitment to her future students and names her a Molly Hunter Dobson Scholar.

Victoria Hedrick is a persistent student and dedicated rising educator earning her bachelor’s degree in English. Victoria grew up in a single-parent home, and when she lost her grandmother as a freshman in high school, it was devastating. Victoria dropped out of high school and eventually moved away to focus on healing and rebuilding her life, but with characteristic determination, she returned to Michigan five years later and enrolled in a high school completion program. Victoria soon became the first in her family to graduate from high school, and now, she is the first to attend college.

After earning her associate degree in pre-secondary education at Henry Ford Community College, Victoria enrolled at the University of Michigan-Dearborn to pursue her goal of becoming a high school English teacher. Victoria’s vision of her future classroom is one that is “culturally sensitive and provides an equitable experience for students to explore books and poetry from across the globe while becoming better thinkers, writers, and communicators.” She is already making a difference in the lives of children as a paraprofessional at UM-Dearborn’s Early Childhood Education Center. 

Following her graduation, Victoria intends to start working as a teacher immediately and ultimately further her education by pursuing a Master of Arts in Education with Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Victoria’s professor remarks that she is “going to be an excellent tuned-in teacher. Her love of literature in all forms is infectious.”

CEW+ commends Victoria’s persistence in her education as well as her commitment to her future students and names her a Molly Hunter Dobson Scholar.