By Beverly James

 

Gabriele Crawford, an 89-year-old, fiercely independent German war bride, was dying of cancer and needed help around the house. Her daughter-in-law, Jeanette Crawford, found the perfect solution: She would hire six nursing students at Georgia Perimeter College who would take turns caring for Gabriele, a widow for 25 years, so she could spend her last days in familiar surroundings. The nursing students cared for Gabriele from October 2010 until her death in June 2011.

 

“The solution worked out best for everyone. She was able to stay in her own home, and the students were able to really experience first-hand, patient-centered care,” says Crawford, director of the GPC nursing tutorial lab. “She was 89 and wasn’t getting out much. So, having these students there, to provide safe, effective, compassionate care, was truly a gift in the last months of her life.”

 

The nursing students made such a difference in Gabriele’s quality of life, that her son, Tom Crawford—Jeanette Crawford’s husband—created a scholarship in his mother’s name. The scholarship annually awards two nursing students $1,000 each.

 

Others have established scholarships to help Georgia Perimeter College students achieve success. Through the GPC Foundation, scholarships totaling nearly $220,000 were awarded to 437 students in 2011.

 

The benefactors and their reasons for giving are as diverse as the recipients. “There are those who create scholarships in memory of a parent or spouse and others who give because someone helped them when they were trying to get a college education,” says Erica Hart, GPC’s assistant director of scholarships and annual giving. “It’s always interesting to hear the stories of the people behind the scholarships.”

 

 

 

Liani Swingle, assistant director of alumni programs at GPC, spearheaded an effort by her family to create a scholarship for Hispanic students. Enlace a la Meta, Link to the Goal, provides one scholarship annually in the amount of $1,500.

 

“I had been thinking about what I wanted my role in philanthropy to be in the greater scheme of things,” Swingle, a native Puerto Rican, explains. “Also, my mother has wanted for years to create a scholarship for Hispanic students. My family and I decided that this was the right time, and Georgia Perimeter was the right place.”

 

Swingle’s mother, Evelyn Rosa, is a lifelong educator who spent 37 years in the Chicago Public Schools system—first as a teacher and then as a high school counselor. She envisioned a scholarship that would help a student who might not have the highest grade-point average, but who has a passion for learning.

 

“It is very important to her to help someone in the middle of the pack, who tries really hard but may not have the resources to fulfill their educational goals,” Swingle says.

 

The first Enlace a La Meta scholarship was awarded to Carla Castro, a GPC Educational Achievement Program scholar who “is married and has to keep a family afloat” while she studies to be a nurse and volunteers in the community, Swingle says.

 

According to Swingle, her mother was adamant about the requirements of the scholarship. She wanted to require an essay to assess each applicant’s passion for education. “She wants to help a diamond in the rough,” Swingle says. “Mom wants to help someone who has potential to achieve, no matter what their previous labels were.”

 

Rosa was just as involved in the naming of the scholarship. “She is not looking for recognition, so she doesn’t want her name linked to the scholarship. Mom wants it to be in Spanish, to convey success, goals and aspirations. We did a lot of word associations, tried out different phrases and finally hit upon ‘Enlace a la Meta,’ Link to your Goal.”

 

(Editor’s note: Evelyn Rosa passed away on March 19, 2012. Although her name is not reflected in the title of the scholarship, her lifelong commitment to education helps Hispanic students achieve their goals.) 

 

 

Former fire chief David Walson saw his mother struggle to raise 10 children after her husband died. She was able to provide for her family with help from relatives and friends. Ida Walson, who was born and raised in Humphreys County, Miss., wanted more than anything to see her children succeed in life. To her, that meant getting an education.

 

“My mother always believed that it takes a village to raise a child,” says Walson, who is a 24-year veteran of the Fulton County Fire Department, former fire chief for College Park and past director of the Fire Management Program at GPC for a period beginning in 2001. Even after retiring as director at GPC, he continued to teach part time for three more years.

 

“She married young and was unable to achieve some of her dreams,” says Walson. However, she was able to plant seeds and realize some of her dreams through her children, friends and others whose lives she touched. She always valued the role education plays in moving up in this world.”

 

David Walson established the Mrs. Ida M. Walson Legacy Scholarship four years ago to support a parent attending GPC. This year’s recipient is Dwane Cunningham, a father of one.

 

“I wanted to create a legacy for my mother that would emphasize the need for education for everyone, but especially parents,” he says. “Mama would have loved that. She would feel that the importance of education is being passed on in a way that helps families.”

 

 

Selma Robinson, an online faculty member, believes education is also the key to helping single-parent families. The Robinson Scholarship for Single Mothers provides $500 a semester to a deserving GPC student who is also a single mom. The money can be used for tuition, books or even child care.

 

“I started out at GPC teaching in the classroom, and one particular student, who was very young and a single mother, was the catalyst for the scholarship. She was a very good student, attended all her classes, got good grades, but she struggled financially,” says Robinson. “This student came very close to leaving school, and I wanted to do what I could to prevent that from happening to anyone else.”

 

Robinson says she inherited her philanthropic streak from her mother. “My mother raised five children by herself and taught us to always try, never give up and set the bar high for ourselves. She motivated me to start the scholarship to help someone else.”

 

Robinson, the fourth of the five children, grew up in the small town of Barnwell, S.C. She worked in the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. before moving to Atlanta to work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She’s been a part-time instructor at GPC since 2002.

 

“The scholarship means even more to me now because I lost my mom in January 2010, and four months later, my sister—who started out as a single parent but later married—died,” Robinson says. “It makes me more determined that the scholarship continues on to help someone else.”

 

 

Johnnie Ray Williams, an English professor who taught at GPC from 1989 until his death in 1994, had a reputation for being mesmerizing in the classroom. Beloved by his students and peers alike, Williams was the product of teen parents. No surprise then that he volunteered hundreds of hours to tell teenagers about the lifetime commitment that comes with having children.

 

It was Williams’ passion for community service and education that compelled his family to establish the Johnnie Ray Williams Scholarship at GPC. The scholarship awards $250 a year to a Teacher Education major who has completed a minimum of 18 credit hours and who has volunteered in the community service area of education.

 

Williams always encouraged students to be involved in their communities, says Dr. Maxine Sample, who taught English at GPC for 14 years. “While community service was very important to him, Johnnie was also very empathetic to his nontraditional students who had families and worked while trying to earn a degree,” Sample says. “He motivated them by telling them of his own frustrations. Here he was an English professor, yet he had flunked freshman English during his first year in college. He told students that story to encourage them to be persistent in trying to achieve their goals, to hang in there and not give up.”

 

 

When Dr. Bonnie Young thinks about her late partner, Dr. Cary Christian, she envisions her with a smile on her face, proud that a scholarship in her name is helping students who otherwise would not garner a lot of attention. The Dr. Cary Christian Memorial Scholarship awards $250 a year to a student with at least a 2.0 GPA who shows potential to achieve great things.

 

According to Young, chair of the Physical Education Department at GPC, faculty in her department started the scholarship in 2009 as a gift to Young. “They wanted to honor Cary and thought that was the most meaningful way to do it,” she says.

 

Christian spent 13 years in service at GPC, first in Learning Support and then in Advising, Counseling and Retention. She lost a 10-year battle with chronic lymphatic leukemia in 2008. Young shares that Christian was an extrovert who loved being around people. Christian also loved nature and preferred being outdoors, playing her guitar and singing.

 

“What I remember most is that she loved working with students who had potential, but needed extra care and attention,” Young says. “So, when we award the scholarship, we look for a student who maybe has struggled a little bit, whose grades aren’t perfect and who has lots of things going on in their lives. But they’ve seen the light and turned it around. Now they just need a little help to get them through college.”

 

 

Andrea Morgan, chair of English, Arts and Humanities at GPC Online, wanted to combine education and entrepreneurship when she created a scholarship. She also wanted to honor her mother, who lives in Atlanta. The Mildred Thomas Entrepreneur Scholarship awards $250 to a student with at least a 3.0 GPA and an interest in entrepreneurship.

 

“Mom was a hair dresser first, then a salon owner and then a distributor of hair care products to other salons,” said Morgan. “She was her own boss for most of her adult life and always taught us the important role small business plays in building communities.”

 

Morgan and her five siblings all completed college. Still, lessons from her mother reverberate today. “Mom didn’t want us to get caught up in working for someone else and depending on others for our survival,” Morgan says. “She would always say, ‘You can get this job, but what about creating jobs?’ I hope that the scholarship will encourage a student to ask themselves that question.”

 

Scholarships generally are based on compelling human stories of love and dedication. But they also carry forward meaningful giving.

 

Students benefit most from the donations, says Felicia Lewis, scholarship coordinator at GPC. “It means the world to our students that folks choose to honor or memorialize their loved ones with scholarships,” she says. “The scholarships help our students see their dreams come to fruition. And that is priceless.”

 

For more information, please visit the GPC Scholarships website.