It really lives up to its name. You can take it anywhere and use it on any portion of your education. It’s truly an opportunity, and I will be forever grateful for the confidence it has given me in life.

As we looked at our ability to take our Mobile Smiles program around the state, we realized that going into rural communities – to smaller towns across Oklahoma – had to be a hallmark of what we were doing. The Carolyn Watson Foundation has made that absolutely possible.

A lot of kids in my town don’t get to go to college, so for me to be able to pursue my dreams of advocacy and research and playwriting, the Carolyn Watson Scholarship has changed the course of my life.

I’m about to graduate, and I’m considering law school. I don’t think that I would have been able to consider that next step if not for the Carolyn Watson Scholarship.

The scholarship has provided me with so many opportunities, I cannot begin to express how grateful I am for the way this scholarship impacted my educational and professional journeys.

I never dreamed I would actually receive the scholarship. I had a summer internship lined up at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, so I talked about that in my interview, and I guess it went well. When they called me and told me I got it, I couldn’t stop crying.

This grant allows our school system to build our unique learning opportunities outside of the classroom and actively engage students in STEM learning concepts.

I did not have a passion for learning unitl my experience here. I was a simple kid, from a normal background, that wanted nothing more in life than what I had already been exposed to. Looking back, I cannot imagine my life if I had not received and taken advantage of this opportunity.

The award has been a tremendous help for me. Receiving this award three years in a row has shown me that hard work pays off, and it gives me the incentive to do well in college.