Watts personified the highest qualities of a profession under ceaseless scrutiny. . . . If a calling can be measured by its most exemplary practitioners, public school teaching stands as tall as Watts himself stood. The News and Observer, August 1984
In twenty-three years as German teacher at Raleigh's Needham Broughton High School, Philip Campbell Watts elevated the program to national prominence and became through his universal knowledge, rigorous standards, and unfailing wit a lifelong inspiration to two generations of alumni. Established by former students in 1984, the Philip Watts Foundation promotes high achievement in the discipline by awarding a recognition scholarship annually to an outstanding senior student of German in the Wake County Public Schools. Currently the amount of the award stands at $1,500.
Eligible for the scholarship are graduating high-school seniors who are non-native speakers of German, who will have completed at least two years of coursework in German by graduation, and who will begin their collegiate study that fall. Each WCPS teacher of German may nominate a single candidate, who will then submit online a formal application supported by standardized test scores for German, transcripts, and a letter of recommendation from the nominating teacher.
The Foundation's selection committee will interview candidates on an appointed Saturday in late winter or early spring. The award will be made solely on the bases of the candidate's academic record, performance in the interview, and the instructor's recommendation.