Contact: Sammy McDavid
Seth W. Rickertsen
A Mississippi State senior planning to become a social studies teacher is receiving a national fellowship honoring the fourth president of the United States.
Seth W. Rickertsen of Helena, Ala., is among 63 students selected this week for a James Madison Memorial Fellowship.
Named for the acknowledged "Father of the Constitution and Bill of Rights," the fellowship provides up to $24,000 toward Rickertsen's pursuit of a master's degree. Under terms of the program, his graduate study must concentrate on the history and principles of the Constitution and he must commit to teach American history or social studies in a secondary school at least one year for each year of fellowship support.
Funding for the program comes from a 1986 congressional act that established the fellowships as the nation's official tribute to Madison (1751-1836), a Virginian whose two-term leadership of the young nation from 1809 to 1817 included a major war in 1812 with England.
Madison Fellows are selected in competition with applicants from each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. island and trust territories.
"The award is intended to recognize promising teachers, to strengthen their knowledge of the origins and development of American constitutional government and to expose secondary school students to accurate knowledge of the nation's constitutional heritage," said Christopher M. Duncan, director of MSU's Office of Distinguished External Scholarships.
"I have a passion for social studies that I hope to pass on to my students," Rickertsen said in his application. "I am looking forward to a long career as a secondary-level social studies teacher. I am excited to know that I will be able to help the youth of America by teaching them the importance of studying history and government."
Rickertsen's perfect 4.0 grade-point average had made him a President's Scholar every semester since entering as a freshman. As a junior, he was named a Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society Scholar. He also is a member of Golden Key and Phi Alpha Theta honor societies.
He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Dennis W. Rickertsen and a 1996 Pelham High School graduate.