spacer
  • Archives

    • November 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • March 2013
    • January 2013
    • July 2012
    • January 2012
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • May 2011

Feagins Establish Fund for Study Abroad

Thanks to a $50,000 gift, more Guilford students will be able to take advantage of study abroad opportunities.

David ’70 and Tanya ’71 Feagins made the gift to create the Mary and Carroll Feagins Study Abroad Scholarship Fund. The fund memorializes David’s parents, both of whom were faculty members at Guilford.

“Financially it’s becoming more and more difficult for students to pay for an education and the loans they have to take out, so hopefully this will help out in some way,” said Tanya.

Mary and Carroll were heavily involved in Guilford’s study abroad program and would often travel together. However, the idea for this scholarship goes back even further.

“The original idea started back in the mid-’30s,” said David. “My mom was going to college, and she was going to study abroad, but finances were a thing of difficulty. So an anonymous donor — who will only be known as ‘Mrs. B’ — gave her the money to travel to Munich for study abroad.”

The only requirement was that she “pay it forward” somehow. The idea stuck and now has resulted in an endowed scholarship fund as part of the Advancing Excellence campaign.

David and Tanya had other reasons for making the gift, too.

“Both David and I were educators for 80 years combined,” Tanya said, “so we have always believed in the growth and development of young people. We were both really adamant that we’d like to have the endowed scholarship named after Carroll and Mary, as well as have an opportunity to help youth.”

“Travel is an education unto itself,” said David. “You’re seeing other lands and you’re learning about other cultures, but I think even more important than that, you’re learning about how much you really have in common as opposed to differences.”

David spoke more on the opportunities that traveling can offer.

“I hope that the students that are able to utilize this fund will share their experiences with others and encourage others to understand the importance of travel and getting to know other individuals,” said David. “Certainly they’re wearing the Guilford name.

“They’re ambassadors for Guilford when they go abroad, so hopefully that will bring Guilford College a little bit more recognition in the international community as well as the local community.”

The couple also had help in establishing the fund. Alumni, family and friends of Mary and Carroll made donations. David and Tanya offered their thanks to these donors.

Tanya commented that she hopes the establishment of this fund will help Guilford with other fundraising efforts.

“Our hopes for the scholarship are to honor Mary and Carroll with a legacy to their work and commitment to world peace, global studies and Guilford College; to promote the education of global studies for future students, and to support Guilford College’s mission to enhance the education of students,” she said. “We wish to encourage alumni, friends of the college and the community to provide financial support for the Advancing Excellence campaign to sustain the efforts of Guilford College.”

For those students who will be taking advantage of the scholarship in the future, David and Tanya’s message was simple.

“Use it wisely,” said David.

“We would also like students to give back some way to other young people who are struggling for an education,” added Tanya.

“You’ve got to pay it forward — encourage others to travel and share their experiences and knowledge,” David said in closing.

Story by David Pferdekamper ’12.

gipoco.com is neither affiliated with the authors of this page nor responsible for its contents. This is a safe-cache copy of the original web site.