Through the Hext Family Foundation, Odessa College has a new endowed scholarship that will help students studying technical fields with their tuition, books and fees.
The presentation of a $1 million check to the Odessa College Foundation to establish the Bill and Jane Hext Endowed Scholarship was made Tuesday in the foyer of the Saulsbury Campus Center at OC.
The Hext Family Foundation has made annual contributions throughout the OC Foundation’s history to support students enrolled in technical programs. The new endowed scholarship will allow Odessa College to award a minimum of $30,000 per academic year to full-time (12 hours or more) and part-time (six to 11 hours) students enrolled in technical programs.
OC President Gregory Williams said technical fields are programs where you can earn an associate degree and go into the world of work. Examples are nursing, welding, electrical programs and computer technology.
Billy Hext was a former mayor of Odessa who died in 2001.
“Since 1999, when the Hext Family Foundation was founded, they have contributed $25,000 each year to Odessa College to fund scholarships for students,” Vice President of Advancement, Business and Governmental Relations Jacqui Gore said. “… When you do the math over those 22 years, they have provided $550,000 in scholarships to Odessa College students.”
Gore said the Hext Family Foundation has sent many students to school at OC over those years.
Hext was in attendance with her son-in-law Tim Spencer. Her daughter Melinda, Tim’s wife, could not attend.
“Dr. Williams and I met with Mrs. Hext and Mr. Spencer about a month ago, and they let us know that they wanted to do even more. They wanted to do something that would live on forever here at Odessa College and we were thrilled to hear that,” Gore said.
“What a blessing you are to us,” she added.
Students awarded the scholarships will have a 2.5 GPA. Part-time students can be awarded up to $800 per semester, and full-time students can be awarded up to $1,600 per semester, she added.
“These scholarships can cover tuition, books and fees. We have so many students coming in who are asking for those things. And this will help them,” Gore said. “Now that’s a legacy that will help students here at Odessa College for generations to come.”
Hext expressed thanks to everyone for attending.
“We thank the Lord for OC, for Dr. Williams, and Jacqui, all the staff and all the students. We’re blessed and happy to be able to be a small part in helping students with their tuition fees. …,” Hext said.
Williams said this was a celebration of kindness, love, beauty and commitment to others.
Williams said part of what the event Tuesday was about is not worrying about who gets the credit.
Williams expressed his appreciation and gratitude for the gift and said he knows the foundation supports not just OC, but a number of other entities.
Gore said when someone contributes and creates an endowed scholarship, they never touch the dollars that they contribute. “We use up to 5% of the earnings to distribute to our students in Odessa College. The Foundation Board helps us to oversee that, so this will truly live on forever here at Odessa College. Over the last three years, the endowed scholarships here at Odessa College have grown from $10 million to now with this $1 million, that brings us to $22 million in endowed scholarships,” Gore said. “That continues to grow and that continues to help Odessa College students. That’s been a real focus of the Odessa College Foundation over the last three years and we want to continue to grow that …”
Hext said it makes her feel very blessed to be able too give back in this way and help students who might not normally be able to attend college.
“… Education is such a wonderful thing and I feel blessed and we feel blessed to be able to help some of them along with all the other ones in the community that do that, too,” Hext said.
Williams said OC has been very fortunate to receive a number of gifts and a lot of support.
“We’ve had a lot of success with our students. We’ve had improved enrollment numbers, so it’s a really good time to be at Odessa College. We’re really fortunate to be in this community. We have worked hard to earn the respect and the high regard of this community. We take that very seriously. When you get a donation like this, it verifies that you’ve done something right and that you’ve gained someone’s trust,” Williams said. “But what that also means is what are you going to do tomorrow?”
Williams added that OC’s goal right now is to get to 10,000 students and it takes a lot to get there.
He said he doesn’t know how many students are out there that may not think they have a chance to go to college.
“… But we’re trying to do everything that we can through our media department, through personal engagement. It’s through events like this, through the media, television, newspaper; we want everyone to know they can be a part of Odessa College in some way,” Williams said.
“College is for everyone. We’ve heard many say college may not be for everyone. College is for everyone because you can start here and become a PhD or MD, if you’d like, or you can start here and gain a technical skill that you can apply in a very short period of time. So college is for everyone and we need more and more people to believe that. And as we cooperate and as a community we can get that message to more people and these types of scholarships help,” he added.
