Future NC A&T State University student receives Kay Hagan Memorial Scholarship
By: Donna Hayes
Former U.S. Senator Kay Hagan once said, “you don’t make a difference standing on the sidelines.”
That’s why the Greensboro mother of three decided to run for office and represent North Carolina. She won her race and took her seat in Washington in 2009.
Hagan passed away just ten years later, but today, her memory still encourages other women to get off the sidelines and into the game to make a difference.
“My mom was a champion for women and girls her entire life, particularly in education,” said Carrie Hagan Stewart, Senator Hagan’s daughter. “She was incredibly proud of the work she accomplished in promoting and supporting women at the local level, as a volunteer here in Greensboro, as a state senator in Raleigh and nationally in the United States Senate.”
Stewart says her mother believed education was the most important thing that the government should attend to because it’s our future, and she wanted to encourage other women to pursue a higher education.
That’s why Women to Women, an initiative of the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, established the Kay Hagan Memorial Scholarship in honor of the late U.S. and North Carolina State senator. The scholarship is awarded to a graduating female high school senior who shares the late senator’s passion for community, civic leadership, and assisting others to make a difference in the world. The student must also have a record of outstanding academic achievement.
“I’m honored to be here today and to present, really, the fourth annual Senator Kay Hagan Memorial Scholarship,” says Stewart.
This year’s recipient is Jaelle Garvin, a graduating senior in Guilford County who’ll attend North Carolina A&T State University in the fall. Stewart says after reading all the scholarship applications, she recognized something of her mom’s spirit in Garvin.
“One of the things that I noticed in her recommendation letters was that it said she was never afraid to voice a previously unvoiced opinion, but in such a way that invited her peers to think differently with her instead of to argue. My mom always used to work to bring people across the aisle together. She would say, ‘I have a son that went to Duke and a daughter that went to Carolina. I can handle our bipartisanship.’”
Garvin says she never got to meet Senator Hagan, but she’s inspired by her legacy and plans to use her $1,000 scholarship to start a lifetime of public service.
“Receiving this scholarship is a reminder that Senator Kay Hagan is a sense of all that’s possible for me and many young women across this county and the entire community.”
Read the full article on myfox8.com
Jaelle Garvin
Graduating Senior at The Early College at Guilford
Excerpt from Our Responsibility of Expanding the Circle, written by Jaelle Garvin:
“As I’ve grown, I’ve dedicated myself to building the kind of inclusion and advocacy I once sought. To speak as a Black woman, fluent in Spanish. To bridge worlds, de un idioma al otro, one community to another.”
Women to Women
Established the Kay Hagan Memorial Scholarship
Women to Women has established the Kay Hagan Scholarship in her honor, which is awarded to a graduating female high school senior who shares Kay’s passion for community, civic leadership, and assisting others to make a difference in the world.