Betsey Love Biondo Student Teacher Endowed Scholarship

The Betsey Love Biondo Student Teacher Endowed Scholarship will provide scholarship support to students in the College of Education who are pursuing a teaching credential. Recipients must intend to pursue a teaching career at a public institution. Recipients must be student teaching during the semester the scholarship is received.

*If you do not meet all of these requirements in a given term, you may lose your scholarship eligibility and your scholarship may be canceled. *

Requirements:

• Recipients must be pursuing a teaching credential in the College of Education
• Recipients must have a minimum overall cumulative GPA of 3.00 out of 4.00 or the arithmetic equivalent.
• Recipients must be student teaching during the semester the scholarship is received. Applicants must disclose the semester they plan to fulfill the student teaching credential requirement.
• Recipients must intend to pursue a teaching career at a public institution.
• Credential students are not required to be enrolled full-time.

Donor Profile:

Betsey Biondo’s lifetime commitment to Public Education was inspired by her mother Marjorie Rose Warren. Marjorie started teaching in 1943, in a small schoolhouse in Collier, West Virginia. After a move to San Diego, she taught in the San Diego Unified School District for 30 years.

Betsey graduated from and did her student teaching at SDSU and earned her credential in 1967. She had her mother’s support but saw how difficult it was for a student to keep a part-time job during the practice-teaching semester and resolved to help if that ever became possible.

After graduation, Betsey completed the course work at SDSU for a Master’s in Public Administration while working as an intern in the San Diego City Manager’s Office. She was then hired as the Administrative Assistant to the Assistant Chancellor for Facility and Staff Affairs of the California State University System. She resigned to follow her husband to be Vincent F. Biondo, Jr. (SDSU AB 1964, Stanford JD 1967) for his service as a US Navy JAG Lt in Subic Bay, Philippines. There she was immediately hired to fill a vacancy as the Government and Civics teacher for the DOD High School. After a six-month trip home around the world, Betsey returned to San Diego in 1970 and resumed her teaching career with the SDUSD. Betsey has taught at Baker, Jackson, Ocean Beach, and Torrey Pines elementary schools in every grade. While teaching she completed her Thesis and earned an MS degree from SDSU in 1973. She has served as a Master Teacher for students at Santa Tomas University in Manila, SDSU, Point Loma College, and USD.

Betsey’s sons, Vincent III (AB UCSD, MA SDSU, PhD UCSB) and Anthony (AB UC Berkeley and MBA SDSU), went to elementary school in the Del Mar Unified SD. The small, two-school district was facing a serious challenge from the annexation by the City of San Diego of the proposed North City developments and the resulting need to construct three new schools. A group of concerned parents recruited Betsey to run for the Del Mar school board. The local newspapers and business groups opposed the idea of a currently employed elementary school teacher from serving. The community knew better and Betsey won by a wide margin and was selected to serve as Board President. The new schools were built and the prospering and well-served community is a testament to her leadership. Betsey retired from teaching in 2000 after 27 years of dedicated service.

Betsy’s husband of 52 years, Vincent Biondo, Jr. served as a local government attorney. They worked hard, lived modestly, saved and invested their money, achieved financial freedom and both were able to take early retirements at age 55. Since then they have worked to give back to their community and support Public Education and SDSU, which was so important to their whole family. This scholarship is one of the ways they are trying to do that.