Source: Tamara Bauer, 785-532-6237, tamara@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Katie Mayes, 785-532-6415, kmayes@k-state.edu

Monday, April 20, 2009

K-STATE AWARDS EDGERLEY-FRANKLIN URBAN SCHOLARSHIPS TO FOUR HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS

MANHATTAN -- Kansas State University has awarded Edgerley-Franklin Urban Leadership Scholarships to four high school seniors who have made notable contributions to the urban Kansas communities in which they live.

Scholarship recipients are: Oscar Rodriguez, Garden City Senior High School, Garden City; Stephanie DeSpain, J.C. Harmon High School, Kansas City, Kan.; Michelle Foster, Immaculata High School, Leavenworth; and Mary Jackson, Shawnee Mission East High School, Overland Park.

The Edgerley-Franklin Urban Leadership Scholarship is part of K-State's new Urban Leadership Scholars Program, which aims to give students the knowledge they need to address America's most crucial urban needs.

The $3,000 scholarships were awarded based on community service and high school grade point average.

The scholarship is named in honor of the Paul Edgerley and Bernard Franklin families, K-State alumni who continuously demonstrate leadership and support of service to individuals from urban areas. The scholarship was created in memory of Franklin's wife, Elsia, who was committed to helping better the lives of young girls in urban Alabama.

Franklin is a 1976 graduate who also was K-State's first African-American student body president. Edgerley, a 1978 graduate and K-State's most recent Medal of Excellence recipient, supports the Boston-area Girls and Boys Club and other causes and individuals who work with urban youth.