杏吧视频

Brooks family establishes music education residency scholarship to ease financial burden for seniors

Inspired by their daughter鈥檚 experience at 杏吧视频, Barbara and Jessie Brooks, along with daughter Shelby, have established the Brooks Family Music Education Residency Scholarship.

鈥淲hen we see a need, we try to help,鈥� Barbara said.

In addition to Barbara, `83 accounting, and Shelby, `20 music education, numerous members of the Brooks family are Tech alumni as well including Barbara鈥檚 brother, sister, brother-in-law, two nephews and two nieces.

鈥淢y older brother went to Tech, and it created this legacy of so many members of our family coming to Tech,鈥� Barbara explained.

When Shelby became the most recent Brooks family member to choose Tech, Barbara and Jessie traveled from their home in Kingston to Cookeville as often as possible to attend football games, music recitals and other events on campus. And they remember the excitement they felt the first time they saw Shelby play in the marching band.  

鈥淭he first time she marched, I thought, 鈥楾his is real 鈥� she鈥檚 actually in a university marching band!鈥欌�� Barbara said.

Jessie says he didn鈥檛 realize how hard music majors work until he saw it through Shelby鈥檚 eyes, and it鈥檚 one of the reasons he wanted to establish a scholarship at Tech.

鈥淲e want to ease the burden of not only music students, but their parents as well,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have been blessed with steady jobs, but that鈥檚 not always the case with some students and their parents. Some of Shelby鈥檚 friends struggled financially.鈥�

Barbara added, 鈥淚t would be hard, with class and football game schedules, for these students to work.鈥�

Barbara and Jessie told Shelby she could decide the criteria for the scholarship, and after careful consideration, Shelby decided she wanted to designate the scholarship for senior music education students beginning their residency. She explains that the hardest part about being a music education major is the residency requirement, or what is commonly referred to as student teaching.

鈥淲hen you are student teaching five days a week, eight hours a day, that becomes a full-time job, but you aren鈥檛 paid because it鈥檚 a requirement for your major,鈥� Shelby said. 鈥淭o hold down a job while doing residency is hard to manage. You also have to work on your teacher licensure. So many requirements are happening at the same time. That鈥檚 why we designated the scholarship for a student doing residency 鈥� to ease that financial burden a little.鈥�

Barbara says she didn鈥檛 receive scholarships when she attended Tech, and she had to go home every weekend to work a minimum wage job to pay for tuition and other expenses. But she wanted something better for Shelby.

鈥淚 wanted Shelby to have the full college experience and enjoy all that was available to her,鈥� Barbara said.

While Shelby received scholarships from Tech, Jessie and Barbara acknowledge that not every student is as fortunate.

鈥淭here are a lot of kids who want to play in a college band and can鈥檛, because even with scholarships, college is still a lot of money,鈥� Jessie said. 鈥淣ot every kid is going to be the star athlete or have the highest GPA, and I am really happy to give back because there鈥檚 a child out there who isn鈥檛 going to get a scholarship, and I hope he or she receives ours.鈥�

The Brooks family says they didn鈥檛 realize how simple and affordable it would be to endow a scholarship. The minimum to endow a scholarship at Tech is $25,000, and the funds can be pledged over a period of five years: $5,000 per year for five years.

鈥淚n my mind, I thought you had to be ultra-rich to endow a scholarship,鈥� Barbara said. 鈥淲e are not wealthy people. We are working people. But we can establish a scholarship at Tech. You don鈥檛 have to sacrifice a great deal, and all three of us are contributing to this. We hope that others follow suit and find a way to support the college or school of their choice.鈥�