Karen Bergquist spent the first 18 years of her life in Nigeria with her missionary parents, Bill and Audrey Cowley. Like many other missionary kids (MKs), Bergquist planned to leave the missions field and come to America for her college education knowing she would have to attend the school providing the most financial aid.
After receiving enough scholarship money, she — along with about 90 other MKs with similar backgrounds — chose to attend Samford University in Birmingham. Bergquist even met her husband, the son of missionaries to Taiwan, at the school.
“I would have never been able to be at Samford University, a private university, without the scholarships,” she said. “To have scholarship money to allow us to come here means the world to us (MKs) and means the world to missionaries to know that their children will be able to go to such an outstanding university. If you are coming from the missions field, it’s nice to be able to go to a university where they can appreciate where you’ve come from.” According to Bergquist, many Southern Baptist MKs chose Samford during the 1970s and 1980s because the school helped them find enough scholarships and financial aid to take care of the costs. But this changed through the years.
Now, as the president of the Samford University Auxiliary, Bergquist is working with her fellow members to provide the same opportunity for other MKs by creating a scholarship to supplement their financial aid.
“Missionary kids have to follow the money,” she said. “We want to be in a position where we can make those offers to them again so they can come to Samford. … It is the desire of the auxiliary to be able to financially bridge the gap that will be the difference in an MK being able to come to Samford or not.”
A longtime supporter of this type of program, Samford President Andrew Westmoreland is pleased with the auxiliary’s plans.
“Samford always has welcomed missionary kids as students and has tried to help financially where we could, so I am especially pleased that members of the Samford Auxiliary have chosen to make scholarships for these students a priority project during the coming year,” he said. “We want these students, whose parents are making sacrifices to spread the gospel around the world, to benefit from the environment that Samford can offer. Additional scholarships will help make that possible.”
The auxiliary is sponsoring several events to help raise funds for the scholarship. On Jan. 20, 2011, the group will hold a luncheon at the Vestavia Country Club that will feature Sherri Burgess, wife of Rick Burgess of the “Rick & Bubba Show.” A portion of the ticket fee will cover the lunch and the rest will go to the scholarship fund.
The auxiliary also will host three opportunities to spend time with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on May 3, 2011. From 4–5 p.m., a town hall meeting will be held at the Leslie Stephen Wright Center on Samford’s campus. From 6:30–7:30 p.m., a gala private patron reception will be held at The Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham. From 7:30–9:30 p.m., there will be a gala scholarship dinner.
For more information, contact Melissa Allphin at 205-726-4373 or visit www.samford.edu/auxiliary.
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