Freeman Scholars
The Freeman family, along with the endowed chair held by Dr. Pittaway, has provided generous bursaries to support Freeman scholars. In this issue we profile Rebecca Whatley who is the Senior Freeman scholar this academic year.
Rebecca was born and raised in South Metro Atlanta in Griffin, Georgia. She is one of four children. Rebecca attended Woodward Academy in College Park and went to Spalding High School. She says: “By the time I reached twelfth grade I had completed all mandatory credits except two senior classes. I was faced with a decision to take ‘filler classes’ or doing an independent apprenticeship”.
Not one to sit around she did an internship with a brokerage firm and this “ultimately changed my life”. Following this experience she knew she wanted to get into the financial services sector and applied for college at a whole range of universities, never thinking about Georgia Southern. It was when visiting a friend at Georgia Southern that she began to be aware of what we had to offer and when a college recruiter visited her school and talked about her eligibility for scholarships that she took us seriously. She was accepted everywhere else she applied (University of Georgia; Louisiana State; Alabama; Mississippi; and, Vanderbilt) but “what my mother and I experienced at Scholars Day (at Georgia Southern) left us completely blown away. The hospitality shown by the University and the involvement of numerous faculty members, students and staff went above and beyond anything we had experienced at the other schools I had considered. I left this weekend with a new respect for Georgia Southern.” Being awarded the Freeman Scholarship ultimately swayed her decision to join us. When she finishes her schooling she wants to pursue a career in small business consulting and ultimately she wants to start a business or charity providing financial advice to people who go through divorce and other similar hardships.
Posted in Scholarships