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Wolguine Stervil
How Sister Thea Impacted Me:
To be the
chosen recipient for such a prestigious scholarship means so much to me. The
skills and lessons I have learned through Sr. Thea, strength, integrity,
spirituality and persistence will forever be carried with me throughout my
life.
Education
has always been a very big part of my life. I am one of the very first and few
individual in my family to go to college. My parents had very little in the way
of financial resources. But, then again, we actually were very rich in, oh, so
many other ways. My parents gave their children something far more valuable than
money. My parents worked their tails off, with the stated goal of making things
better for their kids. But there is always a limitation to life and that is
where the Thea Bowman Foundation took place where they left off. It’s really not
that unusual a story at all. In fact, it’s even an ordinary story. To simply put
it the Foundation gave me everything. It gave me a strong moral compass, a set
of ethical standards, and maybe most importantly, it gave me a future. The
legacy to the foundation was a nurturing environment in which I and other
recipients were expected to be the best human beings we could be. In the
process, taught us to know that hard work, and a little luck and prayer just
might pay off for us. For it was all of those intangible riches that
allowed me to achieve at least this modest degree of success. A success that has
allowed me to graduate with a Bachelors in Accountant and in the meantime
earning my Masters in Science. I have been blessed all along the way. While I
have worked hard every step of that way, I nevertheless recognize that I truly
have been blessed. And so, I am forever grateful to the Foundation.
The foundation
allowed me to grow from a very naive, not-worldly-at-all little girl, to a young
woman, educated, more mature, and ready to live with a clear sense of purpose. I
am now 27 years old. I know that I have more sunsets behind me than sunrises
ahead of me. In thinking about that, and being grateful
for the foundation, I am reminded of an old proverb. The first third of your
life, you learn. The second third of your life, you earn. The last third of your
life, you return. I also am so proud of my fellow Thea scholars. And so proud
of all of the scholarship recipients who are here today. We all need to go
out and make it happen. We all need to go out and change the world. And if we
are successful while doing that, we need to remember that.
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