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Annual scholarship dinner awards non-traditional student |
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Tuesday, 13 November 2007 |
by LINDSAY TIGAR
Lifestyles Editor
She had a thirst for education and spent her life on a quest for knowledge.
She married John Q. Adams and was a notable woman in the history of American first ladies.
She was what Lee B. Williams, former advisor for Appalachian State’s Women’s Center, envisioned as a delegate for a scholarship.
“Abigail
Adams was one of my favorite historical characters,” Williams said.
“One of the things I knew about her was that she was very hungry for
education and education wasn’t available to women then, but she read
every book in her father’s library, and really loved to be involved in
discussions.”
 Senior marketing major Natasha F. Wayne works to complete a centerpiece for the 10th Annual Abigail Adams Scholarship Dinner. Photo by Alisha Park
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Williams, now the Dean of Students at the University of Connecticut, created the Abigail Adams scholarship dinner ten years ago.
Williams designed the dinner to fall around Nov. 11, Adam’s birthday.
This year, the “Hollywood” themed event, will be held Nov. 15 at Appalachian’s Panhellenic Hall from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Tickets are $4 in advance and $5 at the door, and may be purchased at the Women’s Center in Plemmons Student Union.
Senior management major Natasha S. Wayne is the co-chair of the event
this year and said she respects what the scholarship embodies.
“The goal is to create a scholarship fund for non-traditional students,
and to try to raise $600, which is around 150 tickets,” she said. “We
chose to use Abigail Adams because she was one of the first women to
campaign for equal rights. She told her husband not to forget the
ladies when he was writing the constitution.”
Abigail Adams was famous for writing letters to her husband,
encouraging him to remember the rights of women and their role in
American society.
Williams wanted to design a dinner that would include faculty and staff
participation, where anyone could bring their favorite covered dish and
raise money for a student.
“In terms of Abigail Adams, it made sense to contribute to the
education of someone who was eager to be educated, but wasn’t able to
have it in the traditional way,” Williams said. “We thought that a
non-traditional woman, who had financial needs, would be a good choice.”
Williams remembers how closely the first scholarship recipient personified the meaning behind the program.
“The first recipient was just perfect, her story was just that ‘I
graduated from high school, got married, had kids, the father left, I
always wanted an education so I put myself from college,’” Williams
said. “She said it was nice that someone recognizes the struggle.”
A non-traditional student is someone who is not coming straight from
high school to college, and is not in the age bracket of 18 to 22,
Wayne said.
She encourages anyone to attend the event.
“I think it’s a really great cause. It helps one of our fellow
classmates to come to college,” she said. “It really just helps ‘one of
our own,’ and we all understand how expensive college is.”
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