FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec. 9, 2005
Contact: Anika Mitchell Perkins
(662) 329-7124

Scholarship will help student affected by Hurricane Katrina continue her studies at MUW
 
COLUMBUS, Miss. – A nine-course finals dinner turned into a night of shock and elation for Mississippi University for Women student Ashleigh Favre, whose educational future was in jeopardy following Hurricane Katrina.
   
The junior culinary arts major received a pleasant surprise during the practical exam for the Prep III students when it was announced that she would receive a $2,000 scholarship to continue her education at MUW.
   
“I was completely shocked,” Favre said the morning after the dinner. “All of my classmates started crying. I was shaking. I didn’t expect it at all.”
   
The $1,000 scholarship was a result of Karen Karp’s ties to Mississippi and MUW’s Culinary Arts Institute. The icing on the cake was an additional $1,000 from an anonymous alumna.
   
Karp, who owns and operates a food business and restaurant consulting firm based in New York, was one of the individuals who developed the culinary entrepreneurship curriculum at MUW several years ago. She also taught at MUW for one semester.
   
She contacted Cheryl Brown, administrative assistant in the CAI, and Chef Scott McKenzie, interim director, and explained that she wanted to financially support a student whose life or family was disrupted by the hurricane.
   
“When I remembered my connection to Mississippi and The W’s culinary arts program, a scholarship seemed like the perfect thing,” Karp noted in her letter to Favre.
   
“I did not specify a culinary entrepreneurship student, but when they put your name forward and told me of your entrepreneurial aspirations, I was thrilled and felt the connection I was looking for.
   
“Although I have heard a few of the details, I cannot imagine the devastation Hurricane Katrina has caused your family. I know that my small contribution will not have a significant effect on your family, but I do hope that it has a tangible impact on your education.”
   
The scholarship announcement could not have come at a better time for the Favre family, which continues to cope with the devastation of the hurricane. Their home and seven more homes of extended family in Bay St. Louis were completely destroyed.
   
Favre’s parents, Curtis and Sue Favre, who also attended the dinner, were stunned about the scholarship announcement.
   
“It’s just a load off of our minds,” Curtis Favre said. “Her education is a priority. This really helps out.”
   
Sue Favre added, “Her generosity is very appreciated. It takes people like that to help students.”
   
McKenzie said, “Karen’s generosity is a great example of how people from all over the country have reached out to those whose lives have been disrupted by Hurricane Katrina. That she chose to do so through the CAI was fortunate for us and timely for Ashleigh.”