Roy W. Klay Scholars Program awards first-ever recipients
Terra State announced the addition of the Roy W. Klay Scholars Program in the fall of 2019. The Roy W. Klay Scholars Program supports two tuition and general fees scholarships for two students. This is the College’s first full academic scholarship.
The awards will be made annually with a goal to award one scholarship to a nontraditional, adult student to cover part-time tuition and general fees and to a traditional, straight out of high school student.
The College chose students Haily Hill and Susan Morehart for the 2020 - 2021 academic year.
Haily Hill
Haily Hill is forever grateful to be chosen for the first year of the Roy W. Klay Scholars Program. She is excited to be able to focus on saving money for the future and helping out with her family.
Hill, a 2020 graduate from Gibsonburg High School, also took classes at Vanguard-Sentinel Career & Technology Center in the early childhood education program. At Terra State, she is working towards her Associate of Arts degree and in the education transfer pathway.
After her time at Terra State, Hill hopes to move on to BGSU to receive her bachelor’s degree to become a fourth through eighth grade English and history teacher, while substitute teaching in area schools.
“I have always taken care of the younger ones around me so it's almost second nature for me to be in a classroom,” said Hill, “There is no greater accomplishment than seeing a child understand and have fun with their work.”
In her community, Hill has been a cabin leader for a sixth grader camp trip to Camp Michindoh in Michigan, a Girl Scout day camp leader, and works within her church’s nursery. She also works at Dollar General in Gibsonburg.
Hill chose Terra State because she is able to learn close to home, while still having the college experience on a smaller scale.
“The scholarship is helping put less stress on me, when it comes to the financial side. I’m extremely grateful and I appreciate it a lot,” said Hill.
Susan Morehart
COVID-19 has affected many people in our community. Susan Morehart knows this to be true. She worked as an assistant manager at Gordmans, which filed for bankruptcy in May. Her store was shut down and Morehart lost her job.
Morehart, from Tiffin, is studying business management and marketing at Terra State. After losing her job, she decided that working towards a degree was the best route to take. She had worked at factories but concluded that she wanted to pursue a career that was not as hard on her body.
Life has given Morehart a few bumps in the road, but she persevered with courage. In her 20’s, she was pursuing a degree at another institution. At 24, Morehart had her son and caring for him became a clear priority, with other challenges to face as well. She ended her classes and incurred student debt that was difficult to pay off at the time.
After being chosen for the Roy W. Klay Scholars Program and being offered a full tuition and fees scholarship, Morehart confided in two Terra State employees. She told them about her current student debt and they saw how passionate Morehart was about going back to school and getting her degree. The employees told her not to worry and paid off her debt, in full.
“I'm going on 46 years old this month and I don't have very many people outside of my family that are like ‘you can do it’…For people to not judge me and say, ‘we will count on you’, I couldn’t stop crying after that. I’ve never felt that before and it felt good.”
Students who are interested in applying for this scholarship must complete the Terra College Foundation scholarship application process. A committee will select the winners of the awards, as they do for other scholarships. More information and the application can be found at terra.edu/scholarships.
Any donor may contribute to this fund. Checks should be made payable to the Terra College Foundation and reference the Roy W. Klay Scholars Program.