Former Scholarship Winner Starts Alumni Giving Program

By Cathy Williams White

Everybody has someone in their past who is at least partly responsible for their success.

A person who pushed them to learn a little more and challenged them to reach a little further. Someone who celebrated their growth as they began their careers.

At the University of Central Oklahoma, graduates of the school’s Speech-Language Pathology program are being asked to remember the help they received while getting their degrees and in turn lend their support to a future generation of therapists. 

This annual fundraising drive - dubbed “Giving Back, Paying Forward” – was launched several years ago by Dr. Scott McLaughlin of UCO, a former AMBUCS National Therapist of the Year and co-chairman of the Scholarship Committee. This year, alumni are being asked to contribute to the Edmond, OK chapter of AMBUCS and its scholarship fund.  

The aim is to have each of the school’s alumni reflect back on their careers and remember where the seed of their career was planted, how their training cultivated its growth, and who the people were that helped it blossom.

Over the past 15 years, more than 120 of the SLP graduate students at UCO have received scholarships from AMBUCS. Those who received support while in school know just how much every dollar helps. Because in some way, remembering that someone did it for you, perhaps some sense of obligation to the future to those students who are following in your foot steps, will cause you to consider “paying forward.”

Recently, the Edmond chapter received its first donation of $50 from UCO Speech Therapy Alumni Jennifer Poward- McDowell.