Scholarship fundraising effort a success

Scholarship fundraising effort a success

BY DAVID MEDINA
Special to the Rice News

A Rice University
alumni organization has raised, in a matter of months, almost
$300,000 for merit scholarships for minority students attending
Rice.

Recruitment
Into Collegiate Education Through Minority Scholarships
Fund (RICE-TMS) is a nonprofit organization that is not
associated with Rice University, but it hopes to convince
the best minority students to stay in Texas by offering
them scholarships to Rice.

“The program
is off to a good start, and the Rice community is a big
part of its early success,” said Carl MacDowell, president
of the corporation and former assistant to President Malcolm
Gillis. “The donations from Rice have given us a big
boost in opening other sources of giving for the program,” he added.

About 170 members
of the Rice community contributed a total of $66,000. The
rest of the $300,000 came from foundations, corporations,
businesses and individuals.

Initially, the
group, which is made up of six Rice alumni, had planned
to fund five $10,000 scholarships for fall 2001, but with
the recent windfall, the group hopes to increase the amount
to 10 scholarships. The scholarships will be awarded over
a four-year period—or $2,500 each year. The first 10
scholarships will be awarded April 15.

“I am confident
that with another good year of fund raising we will fund
20 in the fall of 2002,” MacDowell said.

To qualify for
a scholarship, a student must first be admitted to Rice
and then be nominated by a high school counselor, teacher
or administrator. The scholarship will be awarded strictly
on the basis of merit and leadership potential. To keep
the scholarship over the four years, recipients must maintain
at least a 2.80 grade-point average.

Programs announcing
the scholarship have been mailed to select high schools
in Texas, and the Rice admissions staff will be distributing
13,000 brochures. In addition, a Web site has been established
at <www.ricetms.org>.

— David
Medina is a senior editor for the Sallyport and the minority
affairs director.