Many Georgia high schools offer Career, Technical and Agricultural Education (CTAE) pathways that allow students to explore potential careers before college.

For Natalia Donahue (B.S.Ed. '26), the CTAE Teaching as a Profession pathway piqued her interest in becoming an educator.

"Because of COVID, we weren't able to go to the elementary school and shadow a teacher, but we learned so much and had many other learning opportunities,” she said. “As I learned more, my passion for teaching grew. So, after I graduated, I decided to work at a daycare. I loved being around kids and I loved teaching.”

To continue her journey, Donahue enrolled at Georgia State University’s Perimeter College, where she was accepted into the State Farm Scholars program. This program provides scholarship funding, leadership training, community service development and personalized academic support for students admitted into two-year associate degree pathways.

The program gave Donahue the resources and financial support she needed to focus on her studies and network with fellow Perimeter College students.

“When I was told that I received the scholarship, my mom and I cried. I was so thankful that I was selected for it,” she said. “I made many friends, experienced new things and received a lot of academic and professional support.”

After two years, Donahue earned her associate degree and applied for the State Farm Transition Scholarship, which supports students transitioning from a Perimeter College campus to Georgia State’s downtown Atlanta Campus to earn their bachelor’s degree.

She made this transition in fall 2024, when she began working toward her Bachelor of Science in Education in Elementary Education in the College of Education & Human Development (CEHD).

“The scholarship provided me with plenty of resources to ensure that I had all my credits to transfer, that I was able to get into my degree program and that I was set up financially,” she said. “They also provided many other resources to ensure that I was comfortable with my transition and knew where all my support services were on the new campus.”

This academic year, she was also awarded the CEHD’s David Jemel Holloman Memorial Scholarship, which is given annually to an undergraduate student in the college majoring in early childhood and elementary education.

With the academic and financial support she received, Donahue focused on gaining the knowledge and experience needed to become an early childhood teacher.

“This program has some of the hardest working, caring and hands-on teachers,” she said. “They provide us with resources beyond the school, many professional development opportunities, resources that we could use for our future classrooms and so much more. You can tell that they truly care and have a passion for education.”

Donahue will graduate this spring and hopes to secure a full-time teaching job in Atlanta Public Schools. She plans to teach for a year before applying to graduate school, with the goal of becoming an assistant principal and potentially serving on a board of education someday.

Her elementary education faculty and peers have played a key role in her development as a teacher and in planning her next steps.

“In one of my classes, we had a class potluck for our last session. Our teacher shared some of her first-year teacher experiences, what to expect from student teaching and other resources to set us up for our future,” she said. “I truly felt like my class was a second family, and I felt like my teacher really cared about my future and wanted to see me win.”