LIT student donates $15,000 while still enrolled to start endowed scholarship
11/26/2018
It has always been in Tony Rutledge’s nature to help others. His position as a student worker in the LIT Development/ Foundation Office assisting people with financial needs was a match made in heaven. But no one could have guessed that the relationship he formed with the “Fabulous Foundation Trio” (FFT) would lead to a $15,000 donation a little over a year after their first encounter, while Rutledge is still enrolled as a student.
His bold and generous donation to establish the Jarrod Tony Rutledge FFT Scholarship Endowment can be traced back to three factors, the impact made in his life by Foundation staff, his calling to assist those in need and the settlement from a work-related injury.
“It was nice working with people in that office that were very much like me in the fact that they want to help people,” Rutledge said. “When I got the money in order to be able to do this, I knew that this was something I wanted to do. I wanted to be able to give back to the school that had given me means to open doors to my career.”
Rutledge and the FFT, which consists of Development/Foundation’s Coordinator Vickie Seymour, former Administrative Associate Sr. Lydia Townes and former Executive Director Joanne Brown, chose Cyber Security, Computer Networking and Pharmacy Tech as qualifying majors for the scholarship. Anyone taking a sociology course can also apply. It will be distributed after he graduates in 2020.
He said college culture, affordable tuition and quality education has put him in the position to succeed. Rutledge plans to continue to donate and add to his endowment to give other students the chance to get a degree that works.
Rutledge began in the office in the Fall semester of 2017 as a student worker, and remained in his position for a year. He is still employed at the institute, but he’s in the Business Technologies Department now while working on three associate degrees (Computer Networking, Cyber Security and Business). Though he’s in another department, Seymour, Brown and Townes and the Development/Foundation office will always have a special place in his heart.
“He is still a full-time student,” President Lonnie L. Howard said. “Yet, he made a decision to provide opportunities to future generations. Tony’s selfless gesture is proof that LIT faculty and staff make an impact that goes beyond the classroom.”
