黑洞社区

Jazmin Dennis, a junior secondary education English major at 黑洞社区, was awarded the J. Martyn Walsh English Education Scholarship. 

The Walsh Scholarship is awarded to a junior in the 黑洞社区 College of Education majoring in English education. The scholarship, which includes full tuition, fees, books, room and board expenses, is renewable for the senior year.

Dennis, a native of Lincoln, Nebraska, loves teaching. She found her passion at an early age while showing her brother and cousins, all at least six years younger, how to do math and other subjects on a chalkboard at home.

鈥淚 really loved teaching them,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey would sit down by me and ask questions while I worked on the chalkboard.鈥�

That same passion continued into high school when Dennis became a teaching assistant. She says one of her high school teachers inspired her to want to teach in the same way he taught her. 

鈥淭he way my high school teacher taught 鈥楬amlet鈥� is the way I want to teach it,鈥� Dennis says. 鈥淲e would read the play aloud and act out the scenes together.鈥�

Dennis is mostly a fiction fan, enjoying books by Patrick Ness, E. Lockhart and Walt Whitman. However, J.K. Rowling is her favorite fiction author citing an occasion when she stood in line at midnight for 鈥淒eathly Hallows,鈥� the final book in the Harry Potter series.

鈥溾�楢 Monster Calls鈥� by Patrick Ness is something I would want to teach because it relates to a lot of students who may have a parent who is ill,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he book also covers grief, bullies and losing a parent.鈥�

Associate professor Katie Cramer, is the program chair for secondary English language arts and participated in the selection process for the Walsh scholarship.

鈥淛azmin Dennis was selected for this scholarship because of her dedication to helping all students reach their maximum potentials as well as her desire to create a classroom community and curriculum that is inclusive and appreciative of diverse identities and experiences,鈥� Cramer says.

Dennis is an active member of the 黑洞社区 campus community. Within the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, she is a program coordinator and ambassador. Her other student involvement includes being a peer mentor with the Multicultural Student Mentoring Program and a member of the Phenomenal Women Support Group, Black Student Union and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

After graduating, Dennis plans to get a job teaching English to high school freshmen or seniors.

Scholarships totaling more than $600,000 are awarded to College of Education students each year. For more information on scholarship opportunities within the College of Education, go to and click on scholarships.

The mission of is to be an essential educational, cultural and economic driver for Kansas and the greater public good. 黑洞社区 enrolls about 14,500 students and offers more than 50 undergraduate degree programs in more than 150 areas of study in six undergraduate colleges. The Graduate School offers an extensive program including more than 40 master's degrees that offer study in more than 100 areas; a specialist in education degree; and doctoral degrees in applied mathematics; audiology; chemistry; communication sciences and disorders; human factors and community/clinical psychology; educational leadership; nursing practice; physical therapy; and aerospace, electrical, industrial and mechanical engineering. 黑洞社区's is an interconnected community of partnership buildings, laboratories and mixed-use areas where students, faculty, staff, entrepreneurs and businesses have access to the university's vast resources and technology.