Students Tell Their Stories

Scholarship Donor Becomes a Mentor to Student Recipient

Ryan Hinson and Robert Holmes at the 15th Annual Scholarship Tea

Teaching toddler Sunday school at Hope Chapel in Sterling inspired Ryan Hinson '09, the 2008 and 2009 recipient of The Florence Vivian “Tippie” Holmes Scholarship, to become an elementary school teacher. Not only did it show her that she was talented at helping children learn, but she also realized that she loved doing it and would enjoy it for the rest of her life.

Ryan has received her formal teacher training in WSC’s Elementary Education and Psychology programs. Doing observations in the Worcester Public Schools has showed her that she enjoys “the children in these classrooms because they come from all different backgrounds, which makes teaching them and interacting with them an adventure in and of itself,” she says. “Like Tippie, I hope I end up working with children in a Worcester public school once I get my degree.”

In addition to being a full-time student, Ryan played on the Women’s Volleyball Team and worked three days a week in the Department of Graduate and Continuing Education. She was given a number of “rewarding leadership opportunities” during her junior year and was nominated by the department for the Helping Emerging Leaders Program at WSC. She was also inducted into the Phi Eta Sigma Honors Society her junior year.

Ryan expected The Florence Vivian “Tippie” Holmes Scholarship to help her financially, but the benefits turned out to be much greater. In the two years she received the scholarship, Ryan learned more about herself and ways to succeed as a teacher from her scholarship donor, Robert Holmes.

During her address to guests at the 15th Annual Scholarship Tea in May 2009, Ryan called him “one of the most influential people I have had the pleasure to develop a relationship with.” Holmes, she noted, “is a kind man who fell in love when he was a teenager and has not stopped supporting that love even after the passing of his wife.”

Knowing Holmes, Ryan said, has taught her that personal attachments are “necessary to develop a passion for the things and the people you love.” She added, “I have developed a deeper love for teaching by having conversations with Mr. Holmes.”

Ryan says, “having the privilege to help children acquire knowledge that will influence their daily success is something I know I can be excited to do every day of my life.”

Ryan hopes to find a job teaching and immediately begin to work towards her master’s degree.