Damon Qualls Receives Excellence in Education Award
Damon Qualls, a fifth grade teacher at Alexander Elementary School, was presented with the Horace Mann Crystal Apple for Excellence in Education for his outstanding efforts to earn grants to support his school. Over the last two years, Mr. Qualls has rallied nearly 800 supporters and raised over $45,000 for the students of Alexander Elementary School through the DonorsChoose.org program.
DonorsChoose.org is a national program that connects businesses and individual donors with teachers in order to help them fund educational projects which add to and facilitate their student's educational experience.
Mr. Qualls is a graduate of the Call Me MISTER program, a collaborative effort between Clemson University and nine other institutions of higher learning, to recruit, train, certify and place African American men in South Carolina elementary schools as teachers.