College of Education and Health Professions Benefactors Lauded for Helping Scholarship Recipients Climb Higher

This fall's College of Education and Health Professions Scholarship and Benefactors Luncheon highlighted the powerful impact of scholarships that allow students to pursue their education and the donors whose financial support serves as "ladders" to help lead them to success.

In her remarks to the more than 200 students, donors and U of A leaders, Dean Kate Mamiseishvili quoted Andrew Carnegie, who wrote almost 140 years ago: "The best means of benefiting the community is to place within its reach the ladders upon which the aspiring can rise." 

She noted that a ladder doesn't carry you to the top. It doesn't climb for you. It doesn't remove the hard work.

"What it does is give you access to a place that is otherwise out of reach," she said, adding, "There is no shortage of talent, determination or ambition among our students in this room. They have long dreamed of pursuing a career in the caring profession and improving people's lives. But without that ladder, the distance between their dream and the reality might be too much to overcome."

Mamiseishvili said ladders are especially meaningful and transformative when considering the students in the room: future teachers, nurses, therapists, coaches, principals and counselors.

"These students have chosen fields that are fundamentally about lifting other people up," she said. "They will themselves build ladders for others to climb by helping them heal, regain independence, live healthier lives, develop curiosity for learning and discover their talents and strengths."

The college has 134 unique scholarships. This academic year, the college awarded $784,955 in scholarship support to 148 accomplished students who have chosen careers in the caring professions. This year, four scholarships were awarded for the first time.

Among the college's scholarships is the Hazel L. Wright Endowed Scholarship in Education. Alumnus Jim Wright, who created the scholarship in his mother's honor, spoke on behalf of benefactors at the event.

Wright's voice caught more than once when he shared about his beloved mother's life as a young girl on a farm in central Arkansas and how she began her career as an elementary school teacher in the 1930s. She was paid $1 a day. Wright expressed his admiration for her dedication to the approximately 1,500 students she taught — including him, when he was in second grade — over her 40-year career.

He began thinking about ways to give back after receiving a large bonus at work. When he compared his work achievements to his mother's, he felt his were lacking. "That began the process," he said. "As I thought about honoring the accomplishments of my mother and father, scholarships were the answer."

He and his wife, Kathy, have managed and expanded their scholarships together for more than 30 years.

"The most satisfying emotional activity in life, after loving others, is giving," he said.

Jessica Weiss, a wound care nurse pursuing her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, spoke on behalf of scholarship recipients. As the recipient of several scholarships, beginning when she was an undergraduate nursing student in the college, Weiss shared what a donor's generosity means to students.

"Each scholarship has represented far more to me than financial assistance," she told attendees. "Like many students, I have had to balance work, family responsibilities and clinical requirements with the demands of my education. There have been long days, difficult semesters and moments when the weight of everything I was trying to accomplish felt especially heavy. Scholarships helped lighten that weight."

She said scholarship funding allowed her to work fewer hours and focus more fully on coursework. They financed educational expenses, like tuition and textbooks. Beyond that, she said, scholarships gave her something that can't be measured in dollars: encouragement.

"Receiving a scholarship means knowing that someone you may never have met believes your education is worth investing in," she said. "It means someone believes in the work you are preparing to do and in the difference you might make with the opportunity you have been given. That belief is powerful."

Weiss noted that their generosity becomes part of each scholarship recipient's story.

"I hope you know that your generosity extends much further than one scholarship or one student," she said, speaking directly to benefactors. "It creates a ripple effect. Your investment in us becomes an investment in every person whose life we will have the privilege of touching throughout our careers. I am deeply grateful to be one of those students, and I look forward to carrying that generosity forward."

Mamiseishvili ended her remarks with a personal thank-you to benefactors as well. "Thank you for placing these ladders within reach of our remarkable students," she said. "You may not always see where these leaders will lead, but you've helped create the conditions to make these futures possible."