'The Legacy' continues at Your College

By Rebecca Bell
Dean of Community Relations and Special Events

Midland’s Legacy Scholarship Program is built on the legacy left by four great Midland families — Gladys and George Abell, Helen and Barney Greathouse, Harriet and J. Harvey Herd and Dorothy and Clarence Scharbauer, Jr. — who invested their time and resources to help build a community.

In 1986, Abell-Hanger Foundation established a Midland College scholarship which would pay tuition for Midland County high school graduates. In 2003, the Helen Greathouse Charitable Trust partnered with Abell-Hanger Foundation, and the scholarship was named Midland’s Legacy Scholarship. In 2006, a third Midland family foundation — the Chaparral Foundation — joined this rich tradition of supporting MC students in their pursuit of higher education. That tradition continues to grow to this day, with the announcement in fall 2011 that the Scharbauer Foundation has united with the other three family foundations to support this great educational legacy.

“On behalf of George and Gladys Abell, Abell Hanger Foundation is proud to have established and supported the Legacy Scholarship Program since 1986,” explains Abell-Hanger Foundation Executive Director David Smith. “Both Mr. and Mrs. Abell valued education, and we believe that they would be gratified by this legacy of educational opportunity at Midland College, which has been available to graduating high school students in Midland County.”

Smith continues, “Over the years we have been joined in this noble effort with new funding partners — the Helen Greathouse Charitable Trust, the Chaparral Foundation and, most recently, the Scharbauer Foundation. The strengthening of this funding partnership now ensures that these educational opportunities will continue well into the future. We appreciate the philanthropic families who have joined us in this scholarship program.”

The scholarship requires students to complete 40 hours of community service before entering Midland College. They also must complete 20 hours of community service each semester that they are attending MC. At the end of the 2010-2011 school year, the Legacy Scholarship paid $750 per semester for qualified students. In fall 2011, with the addition of funding from the Scharbauer Foundation, the scholarship amount was increased.

Smith says, “With the rising cost of college tuition, we felt it necessary to increase the scholarship parameters to maintain the impact and effectiveness of the program, and we have increased the maximum scholarship award to $1,050 per student.”

These four families not only have committed to help MC students with tuition, but also share in the legacy of giving to other MC projects, including athletics, the Scharbauer Student Center, the Dorothy and Todd Aaron Medical Science Building, the Advanced Technology Center, the Chaparral Circle Endowment Fund, Craddick Hall, Friends of the Series, the Fox Science Building, the Petroleum Professional Development Center, and the William Regional Technical Training Center in Fort Stockton.

The community influence and impact of these Midland pioneering families dates back to the late 1800s. Over 100 years later, Midland College is proud and honored to benefit from this unique and great community legacy.

Legacy Scholarship Students