LOCK HAVEN – Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) Brotherhood and Friends of Finken have established the Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) Alumni Scholarship.
Preference is given to an outstanding student-athlete, based on merit and financial need, who possesses leadership, character and integrity qualities. The scholarship can be awarded to an incoming freshman and is renewable, should the qualifying criteria continue to be satisfied.
TKE recently sold their fraternity house located in Lock Haven and wanted to establish a permanent annuity on which to build future donations. With the help of Matt Hardy, Lock Haven University Foundation, the group established a two-fold plan: establishing their own scholarship fund, and donating to another.
“Selling the TKE house was the first step of the endowment, and the hardest thing to do,” said Jon Huber, TKE brother and LHU graduate. “Approximately 750 men lived in that house over many decades, each leaving a small part of themselves there, while the house always remained a community fixture. This scholarship represents that long lasting commitment and we are very proud to be able to do it.”
In order for a scholarship to be permanent endowment, a minimum of $35,000 must be donated. Due to the sale of the fraternity, the group had the funds and decided to not only establish the Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) Alumni Scholarship, but also donate nearly $7,000 to the Dr. Gerald R. Robinson and Mrs. Jean B. Robinson Memorial Award.
“We think this separate (TKE) scholarship represents how much our TKE lifelong friendships and Lock Haven University experience have meant to us and it’s a way to give something back”, said Hugh McNelis, (TKE).
“We hope that it will help some students get to Lock Haven and maybe experience some of what made Lock Haven University such a special place for us.”
Robinson was a TKE advisor for over forty years, and the scholarship donation was a perfect way for the TKE brothers to show recognition for what Dr. Robinson meant to them. “Having met Dr. Robinson many times myself, it seemed obvious to me and many others that we would donate to he and his wife’s scholarship fund to ensure a permanent endowment like ours. Dr. Robinson was what every TKE, or any student for that matter, should strive to become,” said Huber.
The donation, along with matching funds from another source, solidified the scholarship’s permanency. The Dr. Gerald R. Robinson and Mrs. Jean B. Robinson Memorial Award recognizes an academically qualified student who has a positive impact on the Lock Haven University campus community and upon the lives of students by placing the welfare of others ahead of their own personal interests.
For more information on either scholarship, or to make a donation to the Lock Haven University Foundation, please call toll free at 800-732-0999 or 570-484-2298.
