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Teacher from Hollis given James Madison Fellowship

Michael R. Dupont, of Hollis, a teacher at Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative High School, was awarded a fellowship by the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation of Alexandria, Va., in its 25th annual fellowship competition.

A total of 53 fellowships were awarded in 2016. James Madison Fellowships support further study of American history by college graduates who aspire to become teachers of American history, American government and social studies in secondary schools, as well as by experienced secondary school teachers of the same subjects.

Named in honor of the fourth president of the United States and the acknowledged "Father of the Constitution and Bill of Rights," the fellowship will fund up to $24,000 of Dupont’s course of study toward a master’s degree. That program must include a concentration of courses on the history and principles of the United States Constitution.

The fellowship, funded by income from a trust fund in the United States Treasury and from additional private gifts, corporate contributions and foundation grants, requires recipients to teach American history or social studies in a secondary school for at least one year for each year of fellowship support. The award is intended to recognize promising and distinguished teachers and to strengthen their knowledge of the origins and development of American constitutional government, and thus to expose the nation’s secondary school students to accurate knowledge of the nation’s constitutional heritage.

The foundation, founded by an act of Congress in 1986, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the federal government. In addition to offering fellowships, it undertakes other activities relating to secondary school education about the Constitution’s history.

For more information, visit www.jamesmadison.gov.