The Dr. Catherine Pedretty Space Scholarship

The Dr. Catherine Pedretty Space Scholarship for Teachers creates special professional development opportunities for teachers currently teaching in the Pinellas County (Fla.) Schools, and especially for teachers at Dunedin High School in Dunedin, Fla.  It provides a unique opportunity for the selected teacher to travel to Colorado Springs and participate in one of the Space Foundation’s annual week-long in-residence Space Across the Curriculum courses.

The scholarship provides an up-to-$2,500 spending allowance for the following: travel, meal and lodging expenses and full tuition and fees.

The recipient may elect to receive continuing education or graduate academic credit for the course; graduate credit may be applied toward one of several master’s degrees offered by the Space Foundation and partner universities.

Who May Apply

Any credentialed teacher working with students in the Pinellas County Schools district is eligible to apply. First consideration will be given to applicants currently teaching in Dunedin High School.

Apply Now!

The applicant should first become familiar with Space Foundation teacher professional development and Space Across the Curriculum courses. Then, all that is needed is a letter that states the applicant’s qualifications and motivation for applying, experience or interest in space themes in the classroom and what the applicant hopes to gain from the experience. The application letter must be endorsed with a letter of support by a principal or other supervisor.

Applications letters and support letters should be sent to:

Chrys Rheinbolt
Education Programs Administrator
Space Foundation Discovery Institute
105 Coleridge Avenue
Colorado Springs, CO  80909

Application letters must be received no later than April 6, 2012, for the coming summer session. The winner will be notified in May 2012.

Scholarship Honors Lifetime Learner

Funding for the Dr. Catherine Pedretty Space Scholarship for Teachers is provided by her daughter, Janet Stevens of Colorado Springs, Colo., who is the vice president – marketing and communications for the Space Foundation, and her son, Mark Pedretty of New Port Richey, Fla.

A lifetime learner, Dr. Catherine Frazer Partain Pedretty worked as a teacher and guidance counselor in Pinellas County Schools for 38 years and was director of guidance for Dunedin High School at the time of her retirement. Born in 1928 in Birmingham, Ala., Dr. Pedretty grew up in Tennessee. She excelled in the sciences and wanted to become a geologist, but, as was common during those times, she was steered away from a profession “not befitting a girl.” She majored in French and Spanish at the University of Tennessee, graduating with honors in 1949, the same year she married William L. Pedretty, an electrical engineer. She moved with her husband to North Carolina, Texas and then to Florida. While their four children were still young, Dr. Pedretty began working in a non-teaching job for Pinellas County Schools. She returned to school for her teaching certification, a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of South Florida and a Ph.D. in education from Florida State University. As a guidance counselor, she was most proud of the numerous times she helped young women pursue careers in engineering and science and in the role she played in getting her students accepted into the nation’s military academies. Her husband William died in 1996, after 47 years of marriage. In 2004 she married James Gecoma, who survives her. Dr. Pedretty died in 2010 of pancreatic cancer. 

Pictured: Left, 2011 Recipient Robin Little of Safety Harbor Elementary School, Safety Harbor, Fla.; right, Dr. Catherine Pedretty