CULLOWHEE — Marie D. McCombs of Charles Erwin Middle School and Nancy H. Goodnight of Millbridge Elementary School attended programs held at the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching, a recognized national leader in professional development programming for the state’s teachers.

Goodnight was named the NCCAT 2015–2016 Phillip J. Kirk Jr. Scholar. This scholarship was established in honor of Phil Kirk, a native of Rowan County, and public school teacher. Among his accomplishments, Kirk was named vice president of external relations at Catawba College. For sixteen years he was president and CEO of North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry, one of the state’s most powerful lobbying groups. He served for more than five years as chairman of the North Carolina State Board of Education. NCCAT’s Honored Educator Scholarship Program gives tribute to outstanding individuals and educators by providing scholarship funds in their names.

Increasing teacher effectiveness is fundamental to improving public education. NCCAT provides teachers with new knowledge, skills, teaching methods, best practices and information to take back to their classrooms. NCCAT conducts a wide variety of high-quality professional development for pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers. For more information about NCCAT visit www.nccat.org or call 828-293-5202.