Scholarship Recipients

Partners of Strong-Garner-Bauer:

I would like to thank you for your kind donation to me through the Foundations Scholarship Fund at Missouri State University. Without selfless donations like yours, dreams would be harder to achieve for individuals like me.

I am the daughter of loving parents who struggled their entire life to make sure my life was better than theirs. Neither of my parents made it past a high school education. My mother is one of the strongest women I know, making sure my sister and I were well taken care of throughout my father's seven-year battle with cancer. She laid the foundation to show me how to be a strong single mom after my father passed away.

After starting school in June of 2013, my world turned upside down nearly over night leaving me with less that $50.00 to my name, no house, no vehicle, only a dream to chase. By riding a bike to class 12 miles every day, working two jobs, and saving like crazy, I was able to secure a 600 sq. ft., one-bedroom apartment. It was not much, but it was our home. From the hopes of making better life than living in extreme poverty, I worked hard to keep my grades high and graduated in May 2015 from Ozarks Technical Community College with a 3.3 GPA and enrolled at Missouri State University. I have continued to work hard at MSU to maintain a competitive GPA.

Not only will the funds from your donation help with books and tuition, but they also make it possible for me to continue to dedicate volunteer hours to our beautiful community with Ozarks Food Harvest, The American Red Cross and the Victim's Center. I feel I can truly make a difference in our community through the unique life experiences, compassion and empathy paired with a bachelor degree in the field of psychology with an emphasis on cultural diversity. Ultimately I would like to attend graduate school, and explore options beyond to be able to positively influence other with my knowledge and ideas.

Again I would like to thank you for making it possible to continue my education at MSU, and to help relieve some of the financial burden in obtaining my degree.

Dear Strong-Garner-Bauer, Attorneys at Law,

Thank you so much for providing me with the "Be Strong Endowed" Scholarship. I had a massive spinal cord stroke in 2012 that resulted in a spinal cord injury that left me with no movement from the voice box down. Despite my injury I am beginning my college experience with 33 college credit hours. I am also exceeding expectations in the medical community with my recovery.

At Kickapoo high school, I was also part of six clubs, even having leadership roles in a couple of them. Although I have come very far since then, I have a long way to go. This scholarship is extremely accommodating to me because money is now one less thing that will weigh on me throughout my college experience.

My goals with this scholarship are to use the money to pay for classes and/or books to help fulfill my requirements. My goals it to graduate with a double major in Fashion merchandising and Fashion Design/Product Development.

I also want to continue learning to walk again and continue having a part time job. I have always been the type to reach for the stars with my goals. With your scholarship I have one less thing pulling my attention away from my aspirations.

Thank you, once again, for your generous contribution to my college education.