2009 Kramp Encouragement Scholarship Recipients Selected

The DCCCD Foundation and the Erin Tierney Kramp Encouragement Foundation named Reginald Antonio Forest of Dallas and Amanda Collins of Mesquite as recipients of the 2009-2010 Erin Tierney Kramp Encouragment Award.

The Erin Tierney Kramp Encouragement Scholarship, is awarded to DCCCD students who have shown perseverance and courage in spite of great adversity in their personal lives. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the scholarship’s endowment with the DCCCD Foundation.

Forest attends DCCCD’s Richland College and is pursuing a degree in psychiatry. Collins, who is a student at DCCCD’s Eastfield College, is a biochemistry major. Each student has overcome obstacles to succeed in school, and their stories have inspired others as well.

Richland College student Reginald Forest, who came to Dallas after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, knew the meaning of a crisis long before a storm forced him from his home.

For years, he struggled with sickle cell anemia and then with the drug addiction of his mother.  Moving from family to family as he grew, Reginald had difficulties in school and struggled with his sexual orientation.

One teacher reached out to encourage him, and he decided to improve his grades, graduate on time from high school and apply for college – a process that he describes as five years of trial and error until he was able to start at Delgado Community College in New Orleans. 

In spite of the obstacles in his life, Reginald is optimistic about his future.  After he arrived in Dallas – the first person in his family to attend college – Reginald enrolled at Richland College, where he is pursing an associate’s degree in biology and has been invited to join Phi Theta Kappa.  He has a 3.8 grade point average and plans to complete a bachelor’s degree, attend medical school and become a psychiatrist. 

Reginald, who wants to open his own practice, says, “I believe that anything is possible with just a bit of determination and lots of hard work.”

Almost eight years ago, Amanda Collins literally lost control of part of her life when she was involved in a car accident that left her best friend dead; two years later, she was physically assaulted. Her self-doubt grew, and her dreams for the future began to fade.

Slowly, however, she began to rebuild her life, encouraged by others, and eventually enrolled at Eastfield College, where she is majoring in biology and has a 3.7 grade point average. Since then, Amanda’s successes have grown.

Michael Brown, president of the Erin Tierney Kramp Encouragement Foundation, and Amanda Collins

Working on both an associate’s degree in science, which she will complete in fall 2009, and an associate’s degree in business, which she plans to finish in spring 2010, Amanda is a member of Phi Theta Kappa, an academic honorary, and its current president; a member of the EFC Science Club; a National Science Foundation Scholar; and a participant in the STARS summer research internship program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

The future medical researcher says, “The events I have had to overcome in my life have given me the strength and determination I need to reach my goals.  Attending Eastfield College was the break I needed to (be able) to know and believe that life can be amazing.”

For more information about the Erin Tierney Kramp Scholarship, contact Kathye Hammontree at (214) 378-1536.

July 2009