2020-21 Scholarship Celebration
A Night of Celebration and Gratitude
Our donors contributed an astounding $481,110 to support 67 students and 77 scholarships. And the 2020-21 College of Education Scholarship Celebration is our way of saying thank you! We brought together over 68 attendees of donors, students, faculty and staff. The event was held Tuesday, March 30th over Zoom. The online format allowed donors with long drives or who live out of state to attend, and the breakout rooms provided a less formal, more personal environment. View a program from the evening.
Kicking off the evening was Dean Nancy Songer Butler, who gave a short speech thanking our donors, praising our students' achievements, and introducing the evening's program. Three donors, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, and Ted and Kay Packard, also shared their personal, and touching stories about why they support students in the College of Education. Lily shared how reclaiming her mother's native language of Spanish was a matter of cultural pride and something that made her better able to help her Spanish-speaking students and their parents. Kay talked about how being the second daughter in a post-war family of 6 girls made getting a college educating a family mandate! She herself benefited from a scholarship (Kiwanis) and fellowship (Rotary) and wants to give back. Ted has a 42-year history in the Department of Psychology and understands how expensive pursuing an education is these days. We thank Lily, Kay, and Ted for not only their support of our students but for also sharing their personal stories with us.
Flor Mejia, one of the recipients of Lily's scholarship, Maestros para Los Ninos Endowed Scholarship, and Erin Buttars, one of the recipients of the Ted and Kay Packard Endowed Fellowship in Educational Psychology, also got the chance to talk about how transformative a scholarship can be. For Flor, receiving her scholarship meant she didn't have to work full-time and go to school full-time; with the support of the Maestros para Los Ninos Endowed Scholarship, Flor can focus more on her studies. Erin shared how the Ted and Kay Packard Endowed Fellowship in Educational Psychology has created educational opportunities she would not otherwise would have been able to access, including forming a student organization, mentoring students, and getting involved in computer science research grants.
To hear these amazing stories yourself, watch the video below. A thanks to our generous donors, our ever-achieving, goal-obliterating, making-the-future-bright students, our supportive and engaged dean and faculty, and the staff that made the evening possible.