Regan Coombs has been awarded a $1,000 scholarship from the Jamestown Teachers Association. Coombs is pictured with JTA President Stephanie Sardi. Submitted photo

Jamestown High School senior Regan Coombs was recently awarded a $1,000 scholarship from the Jamestown Teachers Association.

Coombs will be attending Jamestown Community College next year and will be majoring in education. The JTA Scholarship is given to a senior each year that is going into the field of education.

The recipient is selected on the basis of academic achievement, character, and a personal essay.

“Each spring, it is very exciting to present the JTA Scholarship to a Jamestown High School senior who is attending college in the fall to begin their pursuit of a career in the field of education,” said JTA President Stephanie Sardi. “The Jamestown Teachers’ Association is very proud to know that we are playing a small part in Regan Coombs’ future by presenting her with this scholarship. It is our hope that when Regan receives her teaching program she will return to Jamestown to pursue her professional career with the Jamestown Public Schools, and become a member of the Jamestown Teachers’ Association.”

In her 2022 JTA Scholarship award winner essay Coombs said, “You never fully know or understand what you’re signing up for when you become an educator, but establishing a safe place for students, encouraging them to do their best, and giving them the materials they need to succeed is exhilarating to watch and feel. The smallest things in life can be the biggest motivators. In small communities, such as Jamestown, education is a catalyst. I have contemplated adolescent Physical Education and adolescent History education, specifically U.S. History. Building a secure, comfortable, stable environment where anyone can learn so that they can apply themselves later on in life should be every educator’s main goal. The future is unpredictable, yet the thought of potentially being the person a student needs to make it one step further in life is incentive enough.”

“I didn’t think I would receive this award,” Coombs said. “When they read my name at the awards ceremony, I was shaking. I appreciate receiving the JTA scholarship as it will help me pay for extra fees or books that I will need at school, which will also be helpful for my parents.”

Coombs has received numerous honors and awards including the Louise A Roskamp Scholarship, Melville Jackson Memorial Scholarship, JCC USA Scholarship and was also named an All-WNY Scholar Athlete Honorable Mention. Regan has also been actively involved while at JHS with volleyball.