SHEBA TURK


New Orleans, LA.

We weren’t financially stable before Katrina—it’s the truth.  I mean, we were already struggling.  Education has always been the one thing I held onto - that I feel like is going to make my life what I want it to be. 

My life has always been dreaming of where I want to be. And I didn’t have any money, I didn’t have parents who had gone to college and had great jobs with money to give me. I had to drop out of NYU because I couldn’t afford the tuition.  My last semester at UNO, I was behind in tuition. I was going to have to drop out. Then the foundation stepped in: covered my tuition, my books. I could focus on studying. Once my tuition was paid, and once I was graduating---it was a big sense of relief. 

I'm the first in my immediate family to graduate from college so it’s a really big deal. If it hadn’t been for the foundation I would have dropped out. 

When I get successful I want to pay it forward:  go find someone like myself, someone who’s smart, who’s trying really hard, and who only lacks the means to pay for college. 

 

 

SOLEDAD

I met Sheba in New Orleans, she was taking journalism classes at UNO and I was a guest speaker.  She was smart, engaged, asked me a zillion questions.  But her mom had to pick her up after classes—the family shared a single car and she had no other way to and from college. 

When a friend told me Sheba wouldn’t be returning for her last semester of her senior year, we knew we had to step in—she was so close to graduating. 

Katrina took a lot from her family, but the truth is, they had always struggled.  We knew with Sheba so close to the finish line, we could help her graduate, and make sure she was well prepared to find a job. 

It’s such a joy to give a scholarship to young women who are so deserving.  Sheba tells me she wants to be a reporter and I think “hurry up!  I'm ready to retire!”  She will make an incredible reporter—she’s hardworking, passionate, and has had a lot of personal ups and downs that I think give her tremendous compassion for the suffering and challenges of others.