Supporting Aspiring Teachers' Education is a Family Affair

Evelyn Doyle and her daughter, Renee Ware, view their donations to the Tarrant County College Foundation as a family affair.

Their generosity is as much about supporting the school that gave Ware’s daughter, Samantha Ware, an opportunity to pursue her dream of becoming a teacher as it is about supporting aspiring teachers in the larger Tarrant County education family. Doyle and Ware have been annual donors to the Foundation’s general fund for more than a decade. They earmark their donations for students who are pursuing teaching studies, said Ware, adding that their joint donations actually create twice the benefits because Ware’s employer, Lockheed Martin Corporation, generously matches their donations up to $10,000.

After Samantha Ware graduated from Tarrant County College in 2008, she used her Associate of Arts in Teaching degree as a springboard to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art at the University of North Texas. In turn, that degree has become the foundation for a long and satisfying career in art education.

“I was looking for something worthwhile to support, and I felt that Samantha had received a good education at TCC—I strongly believe in a good education,” said Ware of her and her mother’s decisions to support the Foundation. “So I felt it was a worthwhile school and a good way to help students to fulfill their dreams. We’re in a community where people are struggling, and to think that I can put my money where I know that it is doing some good locally is very satisfying. I’m using it to make things better in my community, I’m not just giving it away to some general charitable fund that uses it outside of the county.”

“Tarrant County College is a place where students of limited means can get a good education that gives them immediate skills and knowledge they can use in the marketplace or that prepares them to pursue higher degrees,” Ware said, adding that her personal experience with TCC’s faculty had as much to do with her decision to support the TCC Foundation as her general appreciation for the quality of the education and guidance that her daughter received.

“My daughter had the most amazing teachers. She really had the best English teacher under the sun. And when she had questions about her career and future, he really encouraged her to stay with it, to pursue her degree and her dream,” Ware said.

Doyle and Ware agreed that one of the most gratifying aspects of their involvement with the Foundation has been their attendance at the school’s banquets for graduating seniors because it humanizes their gifts. “We could meet the recipients of our donations and understand how we had helped them − the impact we had on their lives. It was nice to see our recipients and get to know them a little,” Doyle said.

To learn how to support TCC students through a Foundation scholarship, please call 817-515-5277.