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PHOTO COURTESY OF PALMER SCHOLARS

SCHOLAR CELEBRATION. Angelina Nicole Nockai, a current Palmer Scholar, performs at the Palmer Scholars 25th anniversary celebration dinner Nov. 1. Nockai is currently majoring in music education at the University of Puget Sound.

Palmers celebrate 25th year of scholarship program

By Clare Jensen

In the past 25 years, Merle Palmer has sent 250 high school students to college.

Covering college costs for that many students probably sounds like a nightmare to the average parent trying to work tuition into their already tight budget.

But actually, Palmer’s work has been more of a godsend than a nightmare to hundreds of low-income families – and the money has not come directly from Palmer’s pocket, but from his long-held philosophy of helping others.

Palmer, now 89, created the Palmer Scholarship Foundation 25 years ago as a way to help two young black men attend college.

It now works with hundreds of low-income, minority students in Pierce County, and is gearing up to send the next round of students off to school.   

“It began very humbly with a man who had a passion for kids and (wanted to) level the playing field,” said Judy Brockhoff, executive director for the Palmer Scholarship Foundation.

Undergraduates can get up to $4,500 a year for up to five years in scholarships.

Graduate students can get even more. But for Palmer Scholars, the money is not the most important part.

Each of the about 20 students accepted as a Palmer Scholar each year also gets paired with an adult mentor who helps them navigate through applications and financial aid paperwork in the beginning, but in the end, is a reliable resource – and friend – for each student to connect with.

“That relationship with the mentor is really critical,” Brockhoff said. “The emotional support that mentors can give that first year is really critical for retention.”

Brockhoff said that 90 percent of the students who enter college as a Palmer Scholar graduate from their schools of choice within five years.

“A lot of the kids tell us that while the scholarship helps them get into college, it’s the mentor who keeps them in.”

Brockhoff said there are many options available to low-income students who may be exceptional students or athletes, but candidates chosen for Palmer Scholarships are not typically the  “cream of the crop” of their high schools. Many of the Palmer Scholars have lower grade-point averages, or appear to have struggled in their transcripts.

However, many of those students have also had to work full time to help their parents meet the rent, or have had some other impact in their lives that may have prohibited them from being the best possible student during high school.

“We know there are things that impact a student’s performance in high school… we try to look for those who are going to get the biggest impact” from the scholarships, Brockhoff said.

Many of the students selected over the years have been the first in their families to pursue higher education, and in some cases, finish high school. Palmer Scholars have gone on to earn their bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees. Most of them return to work in the local community.

“We intentionally take in students that we know are sort of a risk, but they demonstrate that they can do it,” said Steve Schain, a teacher at Lincoln High School and member of the Palmer Scholars board of directors.

Nyeva Bembry is a Palmer alumna and works as a freshman recruiter at University of Washington-Tacoma. She graduated from Lincoln High School, received her bachelor’s from Washington State University in 2003 and her master’s from The Evergreen State College in 2008.

“(Palmer Scholars) has given me the support and the encouragement to do something constructive after high school, instead of settling for what some of my friends may have been doing,” she said. Bembry noted that no one in her family had graduated from a four-year college. “(Palmer Scholars) encouraged me to do some good things, even though I didn’t have those examples in my life.”

Bembry now sits on the board of directors for the Palmer Scholars.

Brockhoff said that at the 25-year mark, the foundation is now in its “second generation” of scholars. Many of the alumni have returned to work with the foundation either as mentors or board members, and the donor profile is shifting as well. What used to be run and funded by primarily white males – a.k.a. Merle’s friends – is now seeing a more diverse demographic of supporters.

The face of the program is also beefing up through recently secured grants, which means a more up-to-date webpage and branding scheme, as well as a mentor coordinator position, which should create an even more robust mentorship program.

And the next round of scholars will be the first to get immersed in pre-college training the summer before shipping off to school. Just one more way the foundation hopes to enable their students for success in university or community college life.

The foundation is primarily supported by foundation and individual donations, and has an average budget of about $275,000.

Currently, it is supporting 120 students at different stages in their college careers.

The next round of applicants will begin the selection process early next year.

“We are trying to help these kids end the cycle of poverty and change their lives around,” Brockhoff said.

Low-income minority students interested in applying for a Palmer Scholarship for the 2009-10 school year can download the application online at www.PalmerScholars.org. The application deadline is Dec. 22.

The Palmer Scholarship Foundation is always looking for new mentors and volunteers, and is always accepting monetary donations. For more information, call (253) 572-9008.

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