LSUS Foundation provides $15,000 for scholarships
12/19/06

The LSUS Foundation has provided a total of $15,000 in matching funds for two endowed scholarships that benefit LSUS students, the Earl Gray and Dorothy Adams McCalla Endowed Scholarship in Education and the Kathie Giddings Troquille Memorial Scholarship.

Dr. Sandra A. McCalla, principal of Captain Shreve High School, recently increased the endowment of the scholarship she established in the names of her parents. The LSUS Foundation provided $5,000 in matching funds to increase the endowment to $25,000.

M. J. Giddings Jr. recently endowed the Troquille Memorial Scholarship, which was originally established as an annual scholarship in June 2005. The LSUS Foundation’s $10,000 match increased the endowment to $20,000.

The McCalla Scholarship, established in December 2005, will assist a graduate student pursuing a Master of Education degree or graduate certification in the College of Education and Human Development with an emphasis in secondary education or gifted certification at the secondary level. Preference is given to a Captain Shreve High School teacher. As the Educational Leadership and School Counseling degrees and/or certification programs are instituted at LSUS, eligible graduate students in those specialties will be considered for the scholarship.

The Troquille Memorial Scholarship was established to honor Kathie Troquille, an LSUS graduate. The scholarship was established in her memory by her family, friends and colleagues. She earned a degree in psychology from LSUS in 1990 and completed requirements for a Master of Social Work degree from Grambling State University in 1996. Her many years of service as a social worker included her work at Willis-Knighton Health System and grief counseling, and at Indoor Sports Club, an organization helping increase accessibility for the handicapped.

Troquille, who became a quadriplegic following a car accident in 1972, died in December 2004 after a lengthy illness. She was named Ms. Wheelchair Louisiana in 1981 and The Pilot Club of Shreveport named her the Handicapped Professional Woman of the Year in 1984. She was also named the Social Worker of the Year in both the region and state in 2001.