When Ivy Knight sat down at last fall's UNT Alumni Scholarship Recipient Dinner, she wasn't expecting an alumnus to teach her how to set up a LinkedIn profile -- but that's just the sort of thing that happens when you are part of the UNT Alumni Scholarship Program.
The program's primary purpose is to award scholarship money to deserving students, but the people behind it also are on a mission to provide additional resources that help students develop valuable skills.
"We're working hard to grow this program and are not satisfied with traditional, transactional scholarships," says Emily Klement ('92, '94 M.Ed., '12 Ed.D.), immediate past chair of the UNT Alumni Association Board of Directors. "We want to make our recipients feel like they have won the jackpot as we set them up for success."
The youngest of five children, Knight is grateful to the donors who helped make her UNT education -- something this daughter of alumna Barbara Cowart Knight ('84) started dreaming about in middle school -- a possibility. Beyond that, she appreciates the program's emphasis on guiding recipients through the college experience.
"I've been given so many chances to grow and learn," Knight says. "And now I have a whole network of UNT alumni who are willing to mentor me and will be eager to help me find career opportunities once I graduate."
Recipients of the program's eight -- soon to be 11 -- scholarships attend networking events and make connections with alumni who share their interests. And as long as students remain eligible, they can continue receiving the scholarship year after year until they graduate.
Recipients discovering the importance of philanthropy is a nice bonus.
"We want our scholarship students to understand that there's a lot more to giving than just dollars," says David Wolf ('04 Ph.D.), vice president for University Advancement. "And we hope donors see that, in this program, a little goes a long way in helping our students find lifelong success."