A need-based scholarship helped Natalie Pierce Griffey (’14, ’15) on her path to two UT degrees.
Natalie Pierce Griffey (’14, ‘15) remembers the moment she learned she would receive a Regal Scholarship. “Getting the notification was such a big deal,” she says. “You got a letter, and it took a minute to for me to realize what it meant.”
Each year the Regal Foundation invests $100,000 to provide $2,500 need-based scholarships to 40 UT students from Knox County. Griffey, who graduated from Carter High School in 2010, says, “UT was the only option for me. My mom, my uncle, and both aunts went there. I loved everything about it. It was the only place I visited and the only place I applied.
“For me, the Regal Scholarship meant that I was going to get the best education without having to worry about student debt or having to work 40 hours a week. As a double major in printmaking and art education, I had to take 18 hours, and there were also studio course fees. I don’t know how I would have done it. It would have taken me six years to do my undergraduate degree.”
It’s a phenomenal experience to be able to inspire the next generation of students.
– Natalie Pierce Griffey (’14, ‘15)
As a freshman, Griffey attended a luncheon for Regal Scholars where she met CEO Amy Miles (’89) and was inspired by her remarks to the group. “I said to myself, ‘I see you, girl. I want to be like that.’”
Griffey earned her master’s in teacher education in 2015. In a University-Assisted Community Schools class, she taught printmaking at Inskip Elementary. “Printmaking is different for six-year-olds,” says Griffey. “It might be just a piece of Styrofoam. But they can get the concept and express themselves through their art.”
After teaching at Carter High for a year, she started at Holston Middle School. “In elementary school I won the award as most likely to be a teacher,” says Griffey, “and I love it. It’s a phenomenal experience to be able to inspire the next generation of students.”
