By Jonathan Saxon
A local women’s group donated a $10,000 scholarship to Bowie State University as part of their final actions before disbanding the organization.
The United Baptist Women of Maryland announced the donation for Bowie State as a part of their giving to Maryland’s HBCUs at their farewell luncheon in April. Historically, the United Baptist Women distributed scholarships that supported women pursuing degrees in seminary studies, but the latest donation is open to any female student that needs funding to continue their education, regardless of major.
“Our group has been giving out scholarships for a number of years,” said Henrietta Scott, the United Baptist Women’s president. “That was part of our mission, that we would support young ladies that wanted to go to college.”
The United Baptist Women of Maryland was founded in 1964 with the goal of promoting Christian fellowship and cooperation among Baptist women in Maryland. The group is shutting down operations after 59 years due to declining membership, but they wanted to do something with their remaining funds that followed in their long tradition of supporting female students.
“We had the money and wanted to do good somewhere,” said Lillian Wright. “As we were deciding to wrap it up, we decided we wanted to support the HBCUs in Maryland. We wanted to make a big difference.”
