Margo and Bill Harrison '62 with their great-niece, Abby Mayfield '18 (center), and their first scholarship recipient, Katie Hohne '18 (right).
Scholarship Surprise
To do something out-of-the-box for their great-niece Abby Mayfield ’18, Margo and Bill Harrison ’62 surprised her by creating a scholarship in her honor to support other students in her field of study—agricultural leadership, education and communications.
“Several years ago,” explained Bill, “we made an estate gift to fund an endowed scholarship. But after moving to College Station two years ago, we felt we were missing out on the joy and inspiration of personally meeting our scholarship recipients, so we decided to make a current gift.”
Their scholarship was awarded to its first recipient, Katie Hohne ’18, last spring. “We were so pleased that Katie received the scholarship,” Bill said. “She is a truly outstanding student leader.”
Since Abby will serve in international missions during the next two years, it was important to the Harrisons that she and Katie—both of whom graduated in May—meet before graduation. The couple arranged an introduction on Valentine’s Day.
“Investing in the futures of deserving students is essential to supporting Texas A&M’s role and leadership in all areas of academic outreach,” Bill said. “Besides that, it just feels good to play a small part in something so much bigger than ourselves.”