Emergency Fund Helps Nontraditional Student Thrive as an Educator

For David Leventhal (’07, ’20), the coronavirus pandemic hit during an already challenging time. A nontraditional student, Leventhal returned to UT to pursue a master’s degree in secondary education and teaching with a young child to support and a mortgage to pay.

Completing his master’s degree meant spending an entire year as an unpaid intern in local schools. He applied for mortgage forbearance, expecting to graduate with an offer of employment. However, the educational sector was completely upended when COVID-19 hit, and Leventhal’s prospects disappeared.

Real Life Worries

At that point, the Student Emergency Fund (a scholarship fund borne of pandemic-induced, urgent student need) and the Center for Career Development and Academic Exploration helped him navigate the situation to reach a positive outcome. He has since graduated, found full-time employment, and caught up with his mortgage.

“It never ceases to amaze me how something good will happen that just keeps me going,“ Leventhal said.

Today, he is a full-time social studies teacher with Tennessee Connections Academy, an entirely online public school available to in-state students. His pay and benefits mirror those earned in brick-and-mortar schools, and he teaches from Knoxville, a crucial point for Leventhal because his daughter and her mother live locally.

Taking the Nontraditional Route

Leventhal took a circuitous route to arrive at his current role. Following his undergraduate degree in philosophy and religious studies earned at Appalachian State University in 2001, he completed a master’s degree in history at UT in 2007.

After graduation, he operated a restaurant marketing and delivery business, worked in the information technology sector, and taught high school and college history.

Now, as a high school teacher, Leventhal brings all those skills to bear in his social studies instruction. With a bright future as an educator ahead of him, Leventhal is grateful for the emergency scholarship and career support he received during an extremely complicated time.

“My work with a K–12 virtual public education academy has helped me grow as an educator and build my resume, while also earning the same compensation as my brick-and-mortar colleagues,“ Leventhal said. “I am forever indebted to the University of Tennessee and its donors, in more ways than I could ever quantify. It’s great to be a Tennessee Vol!”