Except it hasn’t really. It’s been six months, almost to the day, since we started sheltering and distancing, adapting to our new, unwelcome normal. And in that time our lives have been turned upside down, some to a greater extent than others.
In mid March, as COVID-19 was making itself know in our daily lives in Texas, and with two weeks to go before our scholarship application deadline, we started to notice that applicants were citing the pandemic as a reason for applying for college funding. We serve communities that work in sectors badly affected by COVID-19: hospitality and service industries. We heard tales of parents losing work and being unexpectedly unemployed due to the virus, small businesses floundering and students themselves laid off from retail and fast food jobs. We knew our community was hurting. And while we don’t supply PPE or fund research or foot medical bills, we can support in the best way we know how - by offering hope. It quickly became apparent, with a 68% increase in undergraduate applications alone, that we needed to step up our scholarships.
In 2020 we awarded $190,000 to 57 beneficiaries, compared to $138,000 to 42 beneficiaries in 2019. Of our 57 beneficiaries this year, 30 are female, 23 are females majoring in STEM and 6 of those were awarded our dedicated $5,000 Women in STEM scholarships. We are so proud to support the workforce of tomorrow, ensuring that they are able to access education and use their talent and ambition to make a difference.
“Thank you very much for providing me with this scholarship. I’m very grateful for it. It helps my parents. And I’m very thankful for this scholarship because I don’t come from a very rich household where really we struggle. I have two other siblings already in college. So my going to college next year, that’s more financial burden for them.”