Kathy Craig Scholarship

After my Mom passed away, we ran the Race for the Cure each year and fundraised in her name. It’s definitely an important charity, but it was mainly for us. She didn’t have breast cancer and it wasn’t anything the family had done together before she died. We chose it because it was set up for us and didn’t take much leg work on our part, and my Dad’s Mom and sister both survived breast cancer, so it did have some meaning. But as the years went on, less and less people came and we raised less and less money, but we still wanted to do something. That’s when my Dad thought of a scholarship in her name. It was definitely part of God’s plan because it just so happened that the current director of magnet programs was one of Janet’s clients and she was able to get the ball rolling. She did 99% of the work on this, and as my Dad said this morning, if it wasn’t for her, we’d still be talking about how we would really like to do something like this. But right as we were starting to get it all figured out, Covid hit and shut down plans of awarding a scholarship in 2020. 2021 was too crazy for the school system and the director didn’t have time to help. So finally, after 2 long years, our 1st recipient was able to be awarded today. 

Her former coworker started the ceremony and teared up as he spoke. He worked with her for 3 years, 20 years ago and still got emotional. To me, that was such a testament to who she was. I learned a lot from his speech. I know she was Director of the Magnet Program when she retired (she had also been a teacher, assistant principal and principal prior to that) but I didn’t realize how many changes she had implemented that are still in affect today that allow underprivileged areas to have magnet schools. My mom was a huge fighter for desegregation and spent her whole career trying to make sure everyone had an equal opportunity for an education. And this scholarship is exactly what she would want her legacy to be. 

A lot of the family was working because we only had about 5 days notice, but the girls and I, Dad, Janet, Nana, Lizard, Piper and Michaelyn were able to be there to represent the family. And 7 of her closest friends and former coworkers came too, which I thought was amazing with such short notice 

The presentation was very nice. Marlon spoke to open, and then my Dad and I said a few words. Carla is the name of the recipient and one of her teachers came up to tell us about her. She graduated with a 4.55 GPA and will be starting LSU in the fall to major in English  with a concentration in secondary education. She was chosen by a committee after being nominated by either a teacher or administrator. The criteria for applying is the student must be in a magnet program and planning to major in education.

Carla is the 1st generation of her family to go to college and we thought that made her an even more perfect choice. Dad funded this one 100% this year but we plan to fundraise to hopefully give a much bigger scholarship next year.

It meant a lot to my Nana to be able to meet her. I love the fact that there is something in my Mom’s name that is going to help young adults in achieving higher education and contribute to the next generation of educators. It was an emotional day and I can’t thank Janet enough for doing something instead of just talking about it. And I told my Dad I had never been more proud to be his daughter ❤️