It was spring semester, 2019, and a number of 业务 students began to file into a conference room in Kepner Hall. They’d been invited to a meeting to hear more about what they thought was a potential scholarship opportunity.
南希•奥乔亚, a senior accounting major, had received the email encouraging her to attend if she was interested in learning more about the Hummel Family Scholarship. As she sat down in the conference room, she had a lot on her mind.
The 34-year-old mom of two (18-year-old Nevaeh, also a UNC student, and 2-year-old Haven) was working two jobs and going to 学校 full-time.
“Not being financially stable and having to manage being a mom and student life has been a struggle, especially because my youngest daughter has had some health issues. I’m usually running on four-to-six hours of 睡眠. It’s hard to focus with very little 睡眠.”
Nancy was born in Mexico and raised in Colorado. As a teenaged single parent she couldn’t afford college and worked hard to support herself and her daughter.
“I am a firm believer that where there is a will, there is a way,” she says.
In 2013 she was ready to continue her education, and she chose UNC because it was closer to home and affordable, and she’d heard UNC had a great accounting program. As a DACA recipient, she didn’t qualify for federal financial aid, so in addition to her 学校work, she continued working two jobs, one to support her daughter, and 一个是支付学费.
But by the time she settled into a seat in the Kepner conference room, she had run out of savings and was trying to figure out how she was going to continue to pay for 学校.
The Stryker 领导 发展 Program helps with her tuition, but she still needed to cover other expenses like fees, books and housing. “Running on very little 睡眠 and almost out of money, I was burning out and thinking that I was going to have to 撤回. Not knowing how I was going to pay for fall semester, I still registered for classes and just said to myself, ‘I’m going to keep going until I just can’t anymore.’”
What she (and the other students in the room) didn’t realize was that they were about to hear some astonishing news.
“When they told us that we were not there to receive information, and that they were offering us the 奖学金, I began 哭. I was in shock and could not believe 发生了什么?. I had to leave the room for a little bit because I could not stop 哭. After the meeting I gave Jennifer Ostenson a hug and thanked her for relieving the financial stress off my back.”
Twenty-five students received an $8,000 scholarship that day, thanks to a gift from the Hummel Family Foundation, which was established in 2015 by Dr. 罗伯特和卡罗尔 Hummel with their children, Rob Hummel and Jennifer Ostenson. Dr. 哈梅尔赢得了他的荣誉 veterinary medicine degree from Ohio State University and went on to co-found a 业务 that grew into Animal Health 国际 — one of the largest animal health distributors 在国内.
“When my father was going to 学校, a gentleman gave him $200 towards his college education and he said, ‘The only thing I ask is that someday when you’re able, please support some students and help them out as well,” says Ostenson. “他的一生，是的 一直跟着他.”
And in that conference room in Kepner, that moment of 60 years ago replayed itself 25-fold, inspiring a new generation to succeed — and give back.
“I feel extremely blessed to receive this scholarship,” said Ochoa. 正因为如此 scholarship I will finally be graduating in December. I promise I will pay this forward 有一天,.”
