Announcing the Second Recipient of the RENEWPR LGBGTQIA Endowed Scholarship at TTU

In January 2022, we celebrated our seventh anniversary in business by announcing the launch of the RENEWPR LGBTQIA Endowed Scholarship at the Texas Tech Alumni Association. The annual scholarship provides funding for an LGBTQIA student in the college of Arts and Sciences or any LGBTQIA student in a college at Texas Tech who plans to study abroad. And last month, we celebrated the first recipient of this scholarship (from last year): Doan Tran.

The idea behind this scholarship is to provide an opportunity for an LGBTQIA student who might not otherwise have the opportunity to get a liberal arts education or to study abroad - and to do so not just in the "safe space" of a liberal arts college, but at a big state school in a state that isn't always the most friendly to LGBTQ people. We are everywhere and we should be able to be educated everywhere, not just in some schools.

Today, I'm pleased to announce the second winner of this scholarship: Allison Clark. Allison's essay and her compelling application made it easy to select her as this year's winner of our scholarship. Here's what she had to say after learning she had received the scholarship:

“I am grateful for this scholarship as it will not only aid me in my educational goals but has provided me with a stronger connection to a community that I only recently was able to publicly join.”

The idea for this scholarship came in part from my participation in the Texas Tech Alumni Pride Network, a national group of LGBTQ graduates of Texas Tech University. The staff at the Pride Network, the Texas Tech Office of LGBTQIA Education and Outreach and the Texas Tech Alumni Association helped bring the idea to life. At a time when it feels like our humanity is being questioned, having the ability to light a candle rather than just cursing the darkness by funding this scholarship makes me proud.

If you'd like to donate to the scholarship fund to help us increase its value to students before next year's winner is selected in Spring 2024, here's the link: www.texastechalumni.org/pridedonation (select the RENEWPR LGBTQIA Endowed Scholarship in the drop-down menu).

Please join me in congratulating Allison on her selection as the second recipient of the RENEWPR LGBTQIA Endowed Scholarship!