The world she was born into was not a gentle or loving one, but she had fortitude and stamina. Working extra shifts, she saved enough to attend college. College became a freedom that she had not known existed.
She is visually impaired. A state agency found volunteers willing to record textbooks in calculus, chemistry, and physics onto reel-to-reel tapes: she could learn by listening. Page by page, voice by voice, she absorbed the material that would shape her life, and she kept going. She earned her doctorate and became a respected, recognized leader in more than one field.
She learned something important during that climb. Her path was made far more difficult because she is a woman. Other minorities also faced roadblocks. Helping others overcome educational and professional challenges became one of her goals.
The grant takes its name from the response to a question she had asked during a return visit with her former case-worker. “I remember listening to you persuading other handicapped students to consider different paths and in easier fields. Why did you let me pursue science?” His answer was simple: “we all agreed that if we gave this kid just one chance, she would run with it.”
Through the Just One Chance Endowed Scholar Grant, she extends that same opportunity to the women who come after her: to have that just one chance to become everything they already have within them to be.