Anoka High School senior Madey Anfang earns national scholarship to study teaching
Madey Anfang loves school. Particularly Anoka High School (AHS).
“I like spending time here at school more than I like spending time at my own house sometimes,” the senior said with a smile. “I love the atmosphere here. It’s something I can vibe with — everyone loving everyone and being a big family.”
It’s probably no surprise that her love and enjoyment for school has sparked an interest in what Madey wants to do as she prepares for college.
“I want to be a teacher, and I want to come back to the district to teach,” she said. “I love and appreciate the diversity of (Anoka-Hennepin). I’d love to come back here and teach.”
And she’s already well on her way. Madey has already been accepted to the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse where she will study elementary education, and if that wasn’t enough, she recently learned she was one of four students nationally to win a National Association of Federal Education Program Administrators (NAFEPA) scholarship to help with her collegiate studies.
Specifically, Madey won the John A. Pfaff Scholarship, which is a one-time, $2,500 scholarship, awarded annually to a student pursuing an education to be a teacher.
“It made my day when I found out,” Madey said. “It was super overwhelming, and I was full of gratitude and shock that I was one of four people in the whole nation to receive it.”
John A. Pfaff, who the scholarship honors, served NAFEPA as secretary, vice president and two terms as president, according to the NAFEPA website. “Pfaff is a retired local practitioner, principal, and coordinator of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) for the Sheboygan Area School District in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. He represented his state for more than 23 years on the NAFEPA Board of Directors. His vision created this scholarship program and organized the first fundraisers to support scholarships.”
Madey said she wasn’t really aware of the scholarship until she visited with AHS career specialist Colleen Neary to discuss scholarship options she may be eligible for. It was just six days from the time Madey learned about the scholarship until the moment she dropped her application in the mail, she said, and in the time she needed to fill out the application and solicit letters of recommendation from teachers and administrators, including AHS Principal Mike Farley.
In March, Madey learned she had won the scholarship from her school counselor, Kari Schell.
“It’s still a little crazy to think that I won,” she said.
And Madey wasn’t the only AHS senior to apply for the scholarship. “When I got to the post office to make sure it was in the mail on time, there were six other kids all in like to submit for the same scholarship,” she said. “There are a lot of students, I think, who want to get into education and become teachers.”
That piqued interest may be thanks to a program Anoka-Hennepin recently launched in its high schools, including AHS, called Education Teach and Train, where students act as interns in the classroom, the gymnasium, the lab, the sporting field, the art studio — anywhere lessons are taught. Read more about Education Teach and Train.
For Madey, the experience just solidified what she already knew: she wanted to be a teacher.
“In the Education Teach and Train program, I worked in two classrooms at Andover Elementary School — fifth grade English and third-grade art. I loved it,” she said. I really like seeing when kids learn something and it clicks.”
Madey’s family at home, which includes a younger sister and younger brother, has really helped spur her interest in education as well, she said.
“My brother is in fifth grade and he struggled a little, but the amount of help he’s received and the push he’s gotten from his teachers — it’s really pretty cool,” Madey said. “It’s inspiring, and one of the reasons I want to come back to this district to teach.”
In addition, Madey has a little sister who is five-years-old, and being there to watch and help her learn little things, like her ABCs, has been something she’s enjoyed, she said.
“All of that — I think that’s why I want to teach elementary school, something like third grade,” she said.
Madey said her family is proud of her and excited she won the NAFEPA, but she’s been so busy, she hasn’t had a lot of time to sit down with her family and map out college quite yet. In addition to being in the top 30 in her class academically, Madey is an actor and assistant director for the AHS theater program, is in choir, the Student Council treasurer, is part of DECA and the school’s National Honor Society (NHS), and works two jobs.
“Now seems like the time to be busy,” she joked. “I’ll breathe a little in June, maybe. But right now I’m super excited to finish my senior year and then go to college.”